Violet Passion
by The-Doctor's-Invader-at-221B
Summary: Ever since Invader-training, Tallest Purple had felt something for Bik, an Invader sent to conquer planet Smeb. He's trying to keep his secret to himself, while Bik is hiding secrets of her own. A dark and saddening one, and she fears greatly that anyone could find out, most of all her leaders. It keeps her from any Irken, especially because of that incident in training, with Zim..
1. The Beginning

A/N: Should I really start another fic? No. Am I procrastinating on a lot of junk? Yes. But...gah, I am just in love with this idea. This is my first shot at writing a true romance, so if you hate it, you can tell me. But I kind of hope you don't hate it. Because personally, I find it adorable that Pur has a crush on someone...maybe because he's my favorite.

Wow, I'm boring! Do I always explain everything like this?

* * *

Only ten minutes left. Only ten until we, Red and I, were supposed to tell the Invaders where they were supposed to be headed.

No, I wasn't (really) nervous, being in front of an enormous croud where we could mess anything up.

But we were the two Almighty Tallest! We didn't make mistakes.

I seemed more nervous than Red did. He always was able to make good speeches. Not me, as well...Red said it was because of my voice, that was why I never could. I don't know why he never left me alone. He found it funny to make me mad, about anything.

Which was why I was intent on keeping my secret from him...I'd never, ever hear the end of it if he found out that I liked one of the Invaders.

At the moment, I was ready to pull out my antennae so I could stop hearing the angry shouts from my co-ruler.

He hadn't stopped yelling at people for the past fifteen minutes. Yeah, getting the last bits of the Great Assigning was important, but seriously! It wasn't worth losing your voice over.

I smirked at that thought. I had just been thinking about how Red was always the one giving speeches.

"What's so funny?" he growled, turning his head towards me.

"How did you even see me do that...?" I questioned.

"I just did." He sat down next to me, looking extremely annoyed.

"Fire enough people yet?" I dead-panned, glancing at him. I picked up the grape soda I had been drinking a few minutes ago.

He gave me that look he always gave me when he thought I was being a moron.

"Pur, do you know how utterly important this is?" He tugged on one of his antennae in a fashion that made him look even more frustrated.

"Yes..."

"Well, everything has to be set up perfectly. And some idiot apparently hired a bunch of equally worthless idiots for this."

"Would you be that idiot? You being the one to hire them all..." I rolled my eyes.

"NO, it was one of the advisors!"  
"Did you fire him, too?" I let out a snicker.

"Shut up! I don't know why you find this humorous!"

"You need to calm down. Go eat something with sugar in it. You need it." I put the soda straw back in my mouth.

He took hold of the soda and pulled it away, leaving me sucking on air.

"HEY! What was that for!" I tried to snatch it back.

"How much of this did you drink already?" he asked, his eyes narrowed at me.

"Give it back!"

"Purple..."

I folded my arms and glared at him.

"Do you want to be on a sugar-high when we get on stage?" He smirked.

I stuck my tongue out at him, but then looked away and mumbled, "Fine..."

He leaned back in his chair, finally relaxing some. He put the soda down on the small table next to our pair of chairs.

"Hey, Red, look over there, I think someone's messing up the order for nachos-" I nodded towards the other side of the room.

"Where?" he snarled, jerking his head up. I snatched the soda while his head was turned.

"There's no one-" He turned back to me.

I chuckled and put the straw back in the soda.

This time, he snatched it and dumped it on top of my head.

"RED!" I spluttered, wiping it out of my eyes. He started laughing.

I reached up and yanked on one of his antennae.

"Ow!"

I grinned, but stopped when he shoved me, almost knocking me out of the chair.

"My Tallest-" An advisor cleared his throat as he poked his head into the room. "You are both due to appear before the croud of soldiers in less than two minutes. Everyone's here, the Invaders are lined up, all the hologram projectors are ready, the lasers are set up, and we have all the nachos prepared."

Red smiled in satisfaction. "Good. And everyone'll like the lasers better, Pur, you'll see."  
"Yeah, right!" I huffed. "Smoke machines are so much cooler."

"Nuh-uh!"

"Yeah-huh!"

"My Tallest, would you like a towel?" asked the advisor, looking at me.

"Oh...yeah..." I had temporairily forgot about the soda. I hoped I wouldn't get sticky.

I would really look stupid if appeared in front of everyone covered in grape soda.

Especially Bik.

No! I had to stay focused on this. Not her.

"Are you ready?" asked Red, standing up.

"I will be once I get all the soda off me..." I scowled at him.

"Well, hurry up." He left the room.

I shook my head. He didn't care. But...I suppose I would've found it pretty amusing if he were covered in soda instead of me.

* * *

We both heard the announcer call our titles. I took a deep breath. Red looked very calm, and almost impatient for the platform the lower so we could address the croud.

The enormous gathering of Irken soldiers started cheering and clapping loudly as the platform descended. We started waving at them.

"Thank you! Thank you!" I called out.

Red elbowed me. "See? Told you they'd like the lasers."  
"Everything's always lasers with you!" I scoffed. "I'm telling you, smoke machines are what the people really-AUGH! OW!"

I was shot in the eye with one of Red's stupid lasers! OW! I fell down, clutching my eye and moaning.

But the croud started cheering even louder. Red grinned as he kept waving. That jerk!

"See?"

The platform came to a stop, and Red started addressing the croud. I stood up, rubbing my eye. He was going to hurt for that one later.

"Welcome, mighty Irken soldiers! You are the finest examples of millitary training the Irken army has to offer!" he announced.

"Good for you," he said lastly, pointing at them in a rather condescending way.

"Standing behind us, however, are the soldiers that we've chosen for roles of one of the most crucial parts of Operation Impending Doom 2!" he called out. "The rest of you in the audience can just sit and watch."

"You shoulda' tried harder!" I told them. They really should have.

"These surperior soldiers-" started Red.

"NOT quite as surperior as us, of course!" I added hastily. Absolutely no one could get that stupid idea.

"Duh!" smirked Red. "These less surperior but still quite surperior soldiers will each be assigned to an enemy planet!"

I turned to the Invaders with a grin. "There, you will blend in with the hideous native inhabitants-"  
"-all while gathering crucial information, assessing the planet's weaknesses and making it vulnerable to our big…" Red faltered. "...spaceship...gang!"

I felt like smacking myself in the face. Irk, he could be an idiot sometimes...

"The Armada?" I spoke up, annoyed.

He said nothing, and there was a very small awkward pause.

"Now! Let the Assigning begin!" I announced.

There was nothing from the croud except for someone who called out, "Whoo!" with a fist-pump.

I really had been expecting more than that...

"Step forward Invader Larb," I said, pointing at one of the many Irkens who were surrounding the platform.

Larb looked up, rather surprised and taken aback that he had been called first. He hurried up to where we were, and looked up eagerly. There was something different about him-

"Ah, you seem to have grown since you last stood before us, soldier!" commented Red. Oh, that was it.

"You've been assigned to Blortch; home of the Slaughtering Rat-People," I said, gesturing to a hologram that had popped up, showing a picture of Larb getting attacked by the Rat-People.

"Why would you draw that?" sobbed Larb, pointing feebly at the hologram. I looked down on him with slight disgust. Invaders like that could get killed off during their missions.

"However," said Red, "Because of your increased height, you will be sent to Vort; home to the universe's most comfortable couch."

Larb lit up ecstatically. "Ee-yes!" He made a fist-pump, hardly believing his good luck. I handed him an electronic assignment sheet, and he ran off.

"Next, Invader Spleen!" I said.

Spleen walked up. We looked at him, and "ooh"-ed in appreciation. The size of his head made him look tall, indeed.

Red gave him the details, and I waited impatiently to call the next name. Come on, hurry up!

Spleen walked off, and I tossed him an assignment sheet, eager to move on.

"Invader Bik!"

There she was! She hopped out of line and went to stand in front of us. I smiled at her, taking in her long, curled antennae, deep violet eyes, and height of over six feet tall.

"Ah, very nice," remarked Red. That was a total understatement. She grinned back, looking quite proud.

"You will be sent to Smeb, home to the universe's largest soda machine," I said, my voice somehow turning higher. I was grinning at her slightly. Red looked at me, confusion in his scarlet eyes.

"Ah, very nice," she smirked.

I tried to hold in my laughter, but a giggle slipped out. She did a flawless impersonation of him.

Red shot me a scowl, and then turned to her with the same expression, looked affronted at her lack of respect.

"Leave us now," he snapped, shooing her away. His respect for her height vanished. I handed her an assignment sheet. She touched my claw as she took it.

I looked away instantly, hoping she wouldn't see me blushing. She actually touched me...

No. Purple, get over it. She's an Invader with an important mission. Universal conquest is more important than a single Irken.

But I'd told myself that I don't know how many times already.

I still couldn't make it sink in.

* * *

The next week passed by easily. Red and I were back on the Massive controlling the Armada. Only about one or two Invaders had called to tell us that they had reached their assigned planets. I was waiting for a certain Invader to call, but it would be more than a month before we heard from her, most likely.

And I hoped that we would never hear from another certain Irken. He wasn't an Invader, so I couldn't call him one.

He had showed up at the Great Assigning. After we BANISHED him. But he said, "Oh, I quit when I found out about this!"

How on Irk could you just quit being banished!

Hopefully, he had died out in space by now. There was no way that we could fail at getting rid of him this time.

"Incoming transmission from Smeb, My Tallest," called out a technician.

I choked on my doughnut. Red raised an invisible eyebrow at me.

"Re-really?" I coughed. "But I thought it would've taken Invader Bik a month and a half to get there!"

"I guess not," said Red, who looked about as surprised as I. We turned to the transmission screen on the main deck.

"Greetings, My Tallest," saluted Bik. "I have arrived on planet Smeb without any problems. I was able to program my Voot to go light-speed, and arrived here very shortly after the Great Assigning."

"Wow, that was smart!" I exclaimed.

Red eyed me. I cleared my throat and stuffed another doughnut in my mouth as I looked away.

Bik continued, "The inhabitants of Smeb are known as Smebians. They all have light-blue skin, very stubby antennae, and are not very tall. The tallest ones come to about six feet in height, and that is very unusual. They also have claws with five digits on each of them. They usually dress in uniforms that come in shades of white, blue, and lavender. If I may point out, a lot of them dress in the exact color of your eyes, My Tallest," she said, nodding towards me.

She knew the exact color of my EYES! I smiled widely and ate some more doughnuts, hoping no one would catch me blushing again.

"I will show you pictures of the planet's features and indigenous life as soon as I can. I must go, I have much to do, sirs. I will call you back as soon as possible. Invader Bik, signing off!" She saluted. I frowned as the screen went black. Aw, man...

"What was that about?" demanded Red, turning to me. "Why were you being so...weird?"

I shrugged. "Here." I pushed the bag of doughnuts into his claws, silently willing him not to question me further.

He looked down at the bag, then at me, his eyes narrowed with suspicion.

"What is wrong with you? You never share with me, ever! Which is kinda jerky of you, actually."

"Nothing! Nothing's wrong! I'm, um, tired. I didn't really sleep last night." I fake-yawned.

"Yeeeah...okay..." Red rolled his eyes. He started eating the doughnuts. He still looked puzzled and rather apprehensive.

Please don't guess... I silently begged.

"And you were acting like that at the Great Assigning, too!" realized Red, after a long pause. "You DID drink too much soda, didn't you!"

"Yes, I did. That's exactly what happened," I quickly agreed.

"You've GOT to stop doing that, Pur," said Red, sighing in exasperation.

"Probably..." I mumbled back, not really hearing him anymore.

I had had a crush on Bik ever since we were in Invader-training together. But Red and I became the Tallest after Spork got eaten by that freaky blob-thing, and I didn't really get to see her after that. Red hadn't figured it out yet, but it seemed like he was going to soon, the way that he kept acting...

I really, really didn't want him to. He would never leave me alone if he did. He always messed with me about anything and everything, and it made me shudder to think of what he would do if he found out.

* * *

Well! This was short! Do you like it? I hope so! ^-^ Tell me if you want it continued.


	2. Some Stupid Mistakes

A/N: Hi! I'm so glad that I got so much awesome feedback from this. I love reviews! They make me grin insanely! To respond to reviews:

Star Timeblazer:

Thank you! I'm utterly relieved to discover she wasn't Sue-ish. :)

ServanttotheTallest:

I'm glad you liked it! And he was rather cute...

TicTac:

Here's your update! Aw, was he really?

HyperSpooches58:

Yeah, I think you spelled it right. ;) And I feel really, really amazed that I can write stories that you enjoy so much. It means the world to hear you all say that.

Athena Eudialyte Vewlpoer:

I got reviews, thus, this story LIVES!

WascallyWabbit:

I'm glad that I could make it fit! I was trying to do so, apparently I did!

Well, I'm happy to have this continued. Guess I don't suck at romance!

* * *

"Is that everyone? I think that Skutch was the last one to inform us of his arrival..." Red looked down at his vitally-important list of all the Invaders on a clipboard. I had thought how absolutely hilarious it would be if someone took it and started running. I had considered doing that, but I would be hurt rather badly for it, most likely. Or he'd put sneezing powder in my doughnuts or something. All in all, it wasn't a good idea.

"Yeah...how long did it take him to get to his planet, anyway?" I asked.

"Um...a long time...I wasn't really keeping track..."

"Oh, really? If you had wanted me to keep track and I forgot, you would've gone insane over it."

"There's a reason I don't let you try and keep track of certain things, Pur."

"What on Irk is that supposed to mean? I'm not responsible enough?" I snapped.

He snorted. "You. Go get me some soda," he ordered of a random Irken who was passing by at that moment. He put down his list. I debated with myself for a moment more, and decided to leave it alone. I was pretty relaxed at the moment, I didn't really want to feel pain.

"But I'm supposed to go back and watch for transmission signals, My Tallest-"

"Then what were you doing, not watching them in the first place?"

"I was on break-"

"That's no excuse, you pathetic slacker! You've used up the rest of your time off for the rest of the year. Now go get me some soda, and get back to whatever it is you were doing." Red waved him away. The technician's antennae were drooping in disappointment as he went off.

"Maybe I should've demoted him instead..." considered Red.

"Nah, we've got enough drones." I leaned back in my chair, which was sitting right next to Red's.

"Incoming transmission from Earth," spoke up another technician, sounding puzzled.

"What is...Earth?" I questioned, looking at Red, who had received his soda. He sipped it, not answering. He looked just as nonplussed.

The screen that was in front of us flickered to life.

"Invader Zim reporting, Sirs. The mission goes well."

Holy...how in the name of Miyuki... It was...him. That was impossible. I could do nothing but gape at the screen, my mouth open slightly in complete and utter shock. Red let his soda fall to the floor, the straw still in his mouth.

"But surely you expected that from me," continued the pathetically-short, incredibly annoying Irken who believed that we were admiring of him. A wretched lie.

Red spat the straw out of his mouth. "Zim...you're alive...?" he whispered, horrified and incredulous at the same time.

"Yes...so very alive, and filled with goo! Mission goo!" What?

"Don't be surprised if I take care of this planet before the Armada even gets here! Well, I've much work to do, so Invader Zim, signing off." Zim saluted, before his defective SIR crashed down on top of him from the ceiling.

"AUGH! MY SPINE!" The transmission flickered and died.

Red and I looked at each other, not being able to speak for a few moments.

"How...is he not DEAD?" mumbled Red. "We sent him to a part of space that was completely uninhabited, with a broken-down SIR unit! He actually found a planet there?"

"This...is really not good..." I replied dully.

"Well, he's miles away from us this time, at least...maybe he'll start being banished again, and keep it that way..." Red rolled his eyes. He looked down at the floor where he had dropped his soda. He eyed it with a rather disappointed scowl.

I sniggered slightly. His expression was very funny. It was as if he missed his soda dearly.

"Shut up. Hey, you, whoever just went back to watching for transmissions-"

"Nir, My Tallest."

"Go get me another soda."

Nir blinked. "But you said that I wasn't due to have breaks until next year-"

"Irk, you're insolent! You're demoted to a table-headed service drone. Now, the soda. Get on with it."

"Um...shouldn't we find someone to watch for transmissions-"

"You never run out of complaints, do you! You should've be glad to have been taken on as a technician at all, with your stupid and ungrateful attitude! Get me a soda. Contradict me again and you will be punished severely."

Nir walked off, his head hanging.

"Incoming transmission from Smeb, Sirs!" called another one of the technicians.

Any dark thoughts I'd had about Zim at the moment vanished. I smiled excitedly. Bik hadn't called us for five days, and I missed it.

Red was as indifferent as ever as he looked up at the transmission screen again. To him, she was just an Invader. A rather good one, admittedly, and tall, but slightly insolent at times. He still didn't like what she had said to him at the Great Assigning. As if he hadn't embarrassed himself already. 'Big spaceship gang'...please.

"Invader Bik reporting in, Sirs," saluted Bik.

"Hi, Bik!" I said, waving at her ecstatically. I didn't realize it then, but looking back, I probably was grinning like a total idiot. Some great impression I was making on her. I really hated that my PAK decided to make me stupid whenever I saw her. "How's it going? Doing alright on Smeb? Are you okay there? You haven't gotten injured during your mission so far, have you? Huh? Huh? Huh? Huh?"

"What he means is, have you made any real progress since your last report?" asked Red, reaching up and yanking on one of my antennae. He shot me one of his quit-being-a-moron looks.

"Yes, My Tallest, as a matter of fact." I could tell that Bik had noticed me acting weird, and decided to ignore it. "I have discovered a rather interesting substance here on Smeb, known as 'water'. It must contain a very odd substance that reacts badly to Irken flesh, because it burns-"

"You didn't get hurt badly, did you? Are you okay?" I questioned, my stupid voice getting higher again. "You're not badly burned, are you?"

"Er, no, I feel quite fine, My Tallest," answered Bik, her eyes narrowing in confusion as she twisted one of her curled antennae around a finger. I had thought many times how great it would be if I could do that to her, and make her giggle and blush. Aw...she looked so cute when she smiled...I wanted to make her smile somehow. I had a vague idea she was still talking, but I didn't hear anything else.

A thwap was delivered to the back of my head by the means of Red's clipboard.

"Please go on, Bik. I'm sorry, Purple's been off today," snapped Red.

Nil finally hurried up, carrying Red's soda. My partner snatched it and thrust it at me.

"Drink it before you keep acting stupid beyond belief," he hissed.

Bik bit her lip, probably to keep from laughing.

I wanted to toss myself out of the Massive.

She continued on with her report. I slowly sipped the soda, my face flushed. Yeah, Pur, she'd want to go out with a genius like you! So smart and cool about anything and everything. Except for HER, obviously.

I hated it. I hated acting so stupid around her. But I...really liked her. Really, really liked her. I suppose it was a trade-off, then. Wasn't there some way to act normal whenever I was around her?

"Very good, Invader Bik. Your efforts are quite admirable. Keep it up, the planet should be conquered soon under your infiltration," said Red.

"Thank you, My Tallest. I will call back when necessary. Invader Bik, singing off." Bik saluted. I clenched my free claw so that I wouldn't wave at her again.

The screen went dark.

"What on IRK is wrong with you!" Red smacked me with his clipboard again, this time harder. "You were acting like you had brain-worms or something!"

"Or maybe you were!" I said, hoping to confuse him so he'd just quit talking to me.

"You're not pulling that stupid game on me! What was up with how you just acted?" he demanded.

"I don't know..."

"Yes you do!"

"Yes you do!" I mimicked.

His antennae flicked back in irritation. "You're not going to do that, are you?"

"You're not going to do that, are you?"

"Stop acting so immature and just tell me, for Irk's sake!"

"Stop acting so immature and just tell me, for Irk's sake!"

"Purple! I mean it!" he snarled. "You know I hate it when you do that-"

"Purple! I mean it! You know I hate it when you do that!"

"STOP IT! Just STOP. Right now."

"STOP IT! Just STOP. Right now!" I started to laugh. It was very fun doing that.

"FINE! Be a jerk! I don't care!" Red got off his chair.

"Where are you going?"

"Oh, where do you think?"

"That's why I asked you, because I really do have a clue where you're going! I don't know!"

"Away from you. And your idiotic stupidity." He left the room. His expression was one of fury and pure exasperation.

"Win!" I grinned to myself, and started slurping down the soda again.

* * *

(Bik's PoV):

I shut off the transmission. That was...odd, to say the least. What was with Tallest Purple? He was...well, kind of acting like a moron. Was he seriously that worried about my well-being? I knew that Invaders were held higher than most Irkens, but the Tallest didn't seem to care about injuries from us unless they were fatal. Then they got worried about replacing us.

Wow...I guess I was more important to them than I thought!

I did suppose that if anyone deserved it, it was me. I was about the best Invader to come out of the academy.

I remembered that Milla had informed me that she had fixed the communications settings, and that I could now call Tenn on Meekrob. I hadn't been able to contact much except for the Tallest lately. The technology on this planet was pretty primitive, and the signals got messed up sometimes.

I eagerly tapped in some numbers and waited.

The screen was blurry, then-

"BIK! Oh my Tallest, it's you!" cried Tenn. "I was wondering when you'd call!"

"Just now, apparently!" We both laughed. It wasn't actually funny, but we were so happy at the sight of each other.

"How're you doing on Meekrob?"

"Not bad, really. I was able to set up a base of operations pretty easily. How about you on Smeb?"

"Good, actually. You know something that's been really stinking weird?"

"What?" She raised an invisible eyebrow.

"Tallest Purple. He's been acting...I dunno, really weird when I call. The first time, he was saying how smart I was for making my Voot light-speed-worthy, and the other calls after that he kept...sort of blushing and spacing out a lot. And the last time was the strangest. At first, he was saying hi all friendly-like, then he got super-worried when I told them about this stuff here on the planet that burns Irken skin, how I might've gotten burned."

Tenn quirked an antennae. "Weird...I'd have to think on that...did you do anything to insult them or something lately?"

"What? No! And Tallest Red wasn't inflected by...whatever was with Tallest Purple, apparently. He'd act weird, too, if I insulted them directly."

"Yeah...huh. Maybe..." She cocked her head.

"Maybe what?"

"I don't really know...you say he complimented you, kept blushing, was acting really nice, and got worried about you?"

A small smile spread across her face.

"Hm...I think I might have an answer, you just tell me what he does during your next transmission."

"Oookay...can you tell me now?"

"Nope. I have to collect more information first." She grinned wider.

"Uh-huh..." I rolled my eyes.

After that, we talked for a while. We were having a great time, chatting about anything that crossed our minds. It wasn't until a lot later that she said something to unnerve me.

"So, do you know if Zim's survived from the Tallest sending him away like that?"

I almost swallowed my tongue. "No, of course not! Are you a moron, Tenn? Do you really think I'd be keeping in touch with him!"

"Okay, sorry-"

"You should be! I'll rip my antennae out if I hear that name again! Don't say it again!"

Tenn scowled. "Alright, I get it!"

"Good..." I sighed. "I've got to go, Tenn. Need to recharge."

"Oh. Okay. Talk to you later." She looked quite disappointed, but it was her own stupid fault for mentioning Zim.

I had tried to wipe my PAK of knowing about him, but it wouldn't let me somehow. I didn't know why. There wasn't even a reason for my PAK to keep the information.

Yes, there was! spoke up a tiny voice in my head.

"NO! I don't care if I ever hear his name again. He could die and I wouldn't care!"

You're wrong...

"I am not! I hate him! Every last bit of his stupid short self!" I called out angrily. Then I sighed and started to the elevator. I was arguing with myself. How idiotic.

I did hate him. Fiercely. I wouldn't care if he were the last Irken in the universe, I wouldn't want to be associated with him.

I hated even thinking his name.


	3. Suddenly I See

A/N: FINALLY got off that acursed writer's block! XD I'm so relieved to finally get this out there! This chapter might be kinda OOC... Tell me what you think. To respond to reviews:

ServanttotheTallest:

Yes, she is full of pride and has quite a short temper. And thank you very much! Making the Tallest fight over stuff is very fun.

Guest:

Thank you! Yes, it's fun to mention Pur's crush... X3

Athena Eudialyte Vewlpoer:

Ah don' know. I'm not gving anything away yet! ;)

Star Timeblazer:

I totally agree. He is awesome. Thanks a lot!

TicTac:

Thank you, being OOC scares me!

Lostseason:

Still not saying anything! And I am continuing, I feel glad you like this.

* * *

I huffed in frustration. I shouldn't have had to deal with this, it was pathetic. Hiding in a closet from my co-Tallest was very, very stupid.

But it seemed to be the only way I could have peace from his constant questioning. I just tried to ignore him and deny everything, but it wasn't enough. I wished that he had a crush on someone so I could turn his attention off me. I thought he had liked some girl named Kaz when we were barely past smeets, but I don't think he did anymore... Too bad. I desperately needed blackmail material.

I wondered what time it was. I'd been in the closet for awhile. I think I'd fallen asleep at one point. And I was hungry.

Might as well leave. I was also bored. Maybe Red would forget about interrogating me and we could bully some Invaders into giving us puppet shows. That would be fun. And there was also something else that I wanted to do.

I didn't want to tell Bik to her face that I liked her... I was kind of afraid that I'd make an idiot of myself. I almost wished that she could read my thoughts. So I figured, she could if I wrote them down. I'd just send her a note instead. That way, I wouldn't sound like a moron and stutter and blush like I always did when I talked to her.

I stood up, preparing to leave, when my head bumped painfully against a shelf that was hanging against the back of the closet.

"Ow..." I growled, moving out from under it and rubbing my head. Stupid shelf. I reached for the doorknob, but there was a loud creak- Then the shelf and everything on it came crashing down, mainly on top of me.

I assumed that I'd blacked out for the next few minutes, because the next thing I remembered was that I now had a headache. Perfect... I sat up and made sure that antennae were still okay.

The closet door was opened. I got off the floor quickly.

"Um, one question, Pur?" deadpanned the one who had opened the door and was eyeing me critically. "Why were you in a closet?"

"Because I... Like this closet. It's pretty roomy," I answered.

Red rolled his eyes. "Uh-huh..."

"How'd find me, anyway?"

"The crash you made was enough for anyone in the Massive to hear, Purple. What on Irk were you doing?"

"Nothing..." I shrugged.

"Well, you missed Spleen's puppet show," he smirked.

"Aw, but- You're kidding, right? Why couldn't you try and find me before!"

"Oh, I was kidding. Just don't hide in a closet next time for some stupid reason." He turned away from me and started down the corridor.

I scowled, but followed him. I hoped that I would find time to write that note to Bik before the day was out.

* * *

"Incoming report from Earth," a technician announced to us.

We both groaned. Again? Seriously? Ever since we had first recieved that call from Zim telling us he'd landed on some weird planet, he hadn't stopped bugging us almost every day.

"It's Zim..." I grumbled. "You know, we really should've given him a mission on a sun or a planet of broken glass or something," I told Red.

"Or one of those exploading head planets," added Red.

The screen in the room crackled, and then started to become clear. "Yes, what is it now, Zim?" I sighed. I was slightly taken aback at his outfit of choice that day, he looked even stupider than usual. He was wearing something over his antennae, green goggles, and boxes of some sort on his feet. He was also wearing something weird over his uniform and gloves.

He saluted. "Sirs, I apologize for not reporting in, but- Excuse me-"

He ran off-screen for a moment, and an odd noise was heard. It sounded like he was spraying at something with that can he had in his claw.

He ran back to face us. "All is going well, nothing too big to report aside from the usual- AUGH! WOULD YOU LOOK AT THE SIZE OF THAT ONE!" he shouted suddenly, pressing something on the top of the can.

He shook it violently with a horrified gasp. "No! No! I'm almost out of disinfectant! All hope will be lost if I don't get more! Nevaaar! But, I'm not giving up! I'LL DESTROY YOOOOOU! And you! And YOU! AND YOOOOOU!"

The screen went blank.

Our antennae flattened against our heads, Red and I glanced at each other nervously.

"Did that scare you, too?" I whispered. Red nodded slowly, looking rather terrified as well.

We sat in silence for awhile, unsure of what to say to each other. Zim could actually be very creepy at times...

* * *

After we'd recovered from Zim's transmission, we went to our lounge to eat doughnuts and mainly think up new ways to kill Zim. We had started making up different ways to destroy him after he had first called us. Not a whole lot of them would actually work, but it was really fun to think of them.

"Maybe we could tell him that he's being rewarded for something on the Massive, and then we could shoot him out the air-lock," I suggested.

"Nah, he'd probably find some way to destroy the Massive with us in it before we could..." replied Red.

"Yeah..." I shoved another doughnut in my mouth.

"How about... We send him an old cruiser of some type and send it to Blorch? Then he could probably get rid of Skoodge, too. We could probably send an extra Invader over there to conquer the planet instead... Skoodge is utterly useless."

"Maybe that would actually work... But even Zim's not that stupid. He'd wonder why we sent him to Blorch."

"Oh, yeah..." Red pulled some more doughnuts from his bag.

I remembered I still had to write that note to Bik. I was silent for a moment, composing mentally what I'd write. Hm...

I got up from my chair, going over to a desk where I figured that a pencil and paper would be. Red glanced at me.

"What are you doing?"

"Nothing." Aha. I opened a drawer, and pulled out my needed materials. I sat down in the desk chair, and tapped the pencil on the desk-top thoughtfully.

"Purple? Would it just kill you to tell me what you're doing?"

"I'm just writing something! Happy?"

Red mock-gasped. "You can write, Pur? Since when? Why do you never tell me these things?"

I scowled at him as he snickered. I turned back to my paper and started writing. Red got up and tried looking over my shoulder to see what I was writing.

"Red! Come on, leave me alone already!" I snapped, smacking him away.

"Purple!" he complained. "Why can't you just tell me?"

"Because it's none of your business!" I started scribbling again, hoping that she'd be able to read my handwriting. It was rather messy...

"What's so vitally important and secretive that you can't even tell me?" he grumbled. He also sounded... Vaguely hurt. I hadn't expected that. I suppose it was because we'd never kept secrets from each other before. We had no reason to. But this was different. I still didn't want him to know.

"It's... It's just... It's nothing! At all! Now go back to your doughnuts and stop being annoying!"

He was silent. I heard a "Hmph!" as he sat back down in his chair, though. It was odd, what I'd just said... It sounded more like something he'd say to me. He thought I could be immature sometimes and got frustrated with me. But I was really getting sick of him pestering me.

I finished writing, scanning the letter briefly before folding it.

"Erm... Hey, table-headed service drone Dif," I said, looking over at one of the drones who were standing by the door, ready to take orders.

He walked over quickly, looking up at me expectantly.

"Here. Take this to the mail room and make sure it gets sent to... Um..." I had temporarily forgotten that Red was still there. His chair was turned away from me, but I heard him stop eating as he tried eavesdropping.

I solved the problem by writing down the name instead. Dif peered at it.

"Inva-"

"Shut up and just take it," I hissed, shoving the letter into his claws. He nodded emphatically and started to scurry away. I heard Red huff and start eating his doughnuts again. I couldn't help but smirk.

* * *

"Incoming transmission from Earth, Sirs," spoke up a technician, poking his head in the room with an irritated expression on his face. The technicians weren't any more fond of hearing Zim's voice than we were.

Red rubbed his temples with a sigh through gritted teeth as I moaned and smacked a claw to my face.

"He just called us three hours ago!" snarled Red.

"The moron never knows when to quit!" I said dejectedly. He had been explaining some plan to conquer things he called humans after recovering from being covered in meat. That had been intensely hilarious to watch, but Zim had quickly relieved those feelings by bothering us continuously. Red activated a screen in the lounge, we didn't feel like getting up.

The screen crackled, then became clear as Zim came into view.

"What do you want THIS time, Zim?" growled Red, folding his arms across his chest as he glared at the so-called 'Invader' on the screen.

"Oh, it's just a rather confusing matter I was hoping to clear up, My Tallest," answered Zim, arms folded behind his back. He withdrew one to reveal a piece of paper. "I am referring to a message that was sent to me a short while ago, apparently from you, My Tallest." Zim looked at me as he said this. Red shot me a puzzled glance. I shrugged, having no idea what the idiot was talking about.

" 'Dear Invader Bik,' " began Zim. his ruby eyes moving back and forth as he read the words.

I froze completely, feeling the blood drain out of my face as my mouth went dry. This was not happening...

" 'This is from Tallest Purple, and I'm writing this letter to tell you something important that I haven't been able to say for a while. I need to tell you now, and it's been bugging me ever since we were both in Invader-training together and not a great deal past smeets.' "

"Oh, Irk, please shut up, Zim, please," I whispered.

" 'You see, it also has to do with how I acted during your transmissions. The reason I blushed, stammered, and mumbled throughout your calls, acting... Well, rather stupid, is because of a certain reason. It's why I loved being close to you during training, and why I was thrilled when you became an Invader, it gave me all the more reason to see you. It's because, well, I really do like you, Bik.' "

There was a thump, then loud gasping, which turned into peals of laughter. Red had fallen out of his chair, laughing so hard I'd hoped he'd choke.

" 'I didn't want to tell you before, because, in truth, I wasn't sure that you would return the feelings. But, with this... I hope to Miyuki you do. I've wanted us to be together for a while, and I desperately hope this can be my chance. Sincerely, Almighty Tallest Purple.' "

Why couldn't I just die right now? Why? I whimpered, my face falling into my claws as my antennae hung over them pathetically. My face was burning with humiliation as I listened to Red's insane chuckles. Kindly go die, Zim, and you too, Red. I hate you both so much right now, were my thoughts. There were also many curses and other horrible things racing through my mind at the moment as well.

"So, I can definitely assume this was a mistake, My Tallest?" questioned Zim, folding the letter back up after clearing his throat. "Invader Bik... That is... Very interesting..." Zim frowned in thought as he looked back down at the note. "What do you suggest I do with this, My Tallest? I could contact Bik and tell her what this says, if you'd like-"

"If you do that, Zim, I'll personally come to Earth and kill you myself in brutal ways you won't even be able to envision in your darkest and most terrifying nightmares. Burn that letter and erase the memory of having ever read that from your PAK and I just might not murder you in cold blood. Do you understand?" I slowly lifted my head to look at Zim, who bit his lip deeply and shrunk back slightly.

"Of course I understand, My Tallest! I am Zim! I shall dispose of this immediately, I won't mention it again. Invader Zim, signing off!" He saluted and shut off the transmission.

One of my eyes twitched furiously. Red's laughter had died down somewhat, and he had finally gotten back on his chair, snorting and giggling from behind a claw. All the things I could throw at him were out of reach, unfortunately. I hugged my knees to my chest and glared at the opposite wall, refusing to glance at my partner.

"It all... It all makes perfect sense now!" spoke up Red, his voice choked with glee. "No wonder you kept acting so stupid, you have a crush on Bik! Oh my-" He started snickering again.

"Shut up. Shut up right. Now." I swore if he said another word I'd assassinate him before the day was out.

"Wow, Pur! This is truly priceless!" Red shook his head, grinning widely. "What is it that you love about her so much? Her deep violet eyes, her delicately curled antennae, or how tall she is?"

I didn't respond this time, but my face grew hot again. The worst part was, those were some of the reasons I liked her.

"And you've loved her since Invader-training? _Seriously? _Aw, I can't believe I didn't realize it before! And how you acted at the Great Assigning- I saw you look away and blush when she touched you, I remember that now! This is better than when Zim called us, covered in meat!"

Thanks for ruining that memory for me, Red. Thanks a LOT. "And I suppose you have absolutely no more feelings for Kaz?" I mumbled.

"Nope," responded Red. "That was a while ago, and you know it."

Yep, should've known that was coming. Now I had absolutely nothing to say that would silence him. Why did my life suddenly hate me?

I finally looked at back at him. He was still smiling, and was now eating the rest of his doughnuts.

I reached over and snatched the bag from him.

"Wha- Hey!" he snapped. "Give 'em back!"

"No!" I pulled out some of the sugary snacks out of the bag and started stuffing them in my mouth.

"Look, you have the right to do a lot of things to me, Purple. Annoy me, push me, poke me, smack me, even steal my snacks. But actually EAT them? That's a _definite_ no." Red got up from his chair and folded his arms across his chest, glowering down at me.

"Go and get some more," I said.

"Purple, stop it right now and give me back my doughnuts." His voice wasn't much above a whisper as he held out a claw expectantly.

"Yeah, okay-" I held the bag out to him. He almost grabbed it back, but I jerked it away at the last second. The force made the remaining doughnuts fall to the floor and scatter all over the place.

Red stared at them for a moment. I quickly hopped up from my chair and started for the door.

"PURPLE!" he yelled, whipping around to face me. I grinned and turned away from him, heading down the corridor at a fast pace.

"Don't make me chase after you! I will, and then hurt you badly!"

"Do it, then!" I called back.

The next moments were very fun, with me as the one laughing now as Red went after me, his intentions not the best.

* * *

Another short chapter, you say? And such a long time between updates, you recall? Eh-heh... *grins*

Well, anyway, I have a 'Violet Passion' playlist I listen to when writing this sometimes. The songs are as follows:

'Other Side of the World' by K.T. Tunstall

'Favorite Girl' by Justin Bieber

'Never Let You Go' by Justin Bieber

'Painting Flowers' by All Time Low

'Fallin' for You' by Colbie Calliet

'Kissing U' by Miranda Cosgrove

'Vanilla Twilight' by Owl City

'The Technicolor Phase' by Owl City

'Strange' by Kerli/Tokio Hotel

So, yeah! Check some of those out on YouTube! And thank you all for being so patient. This last note, and then I go away from you all:

Reviews ish teh best, and I feel super-happy when I receive such things.


	4. Painful Memories

A/N: Hello! I'll bet you guys are happy about this, giving you another chapter so soon. Eh? Eh? ...well, sooner than normal. To respond to reviews:

TicTac: I'm happy that you're liking this! And a lot of people said the same thing... Star said she wanted to smack Zim with a shovel.

HyperSugarOtaku: I'm glad you're enjoying this!

Star Timeblazer: Yeah, tact is not something that Zim knows in any way, shape, or form. Thank you very much!

ServanttotheTallest: I'm glad it was in character! Thank you, I'm glad you think it's fun- But this chapter will be rather dark.

HyperSpooches58: Glad that I made you laugh. :)

Oh, in case you haven't noticed, I raised the rating to T for this. Just so you know.

* * *

"I assume you heard the news by now, Bik?" asked Tenn, looking at me with a slight grimace.

"Oh, yes..." I huffed. "Zim's alive. What joy. Tell me, Tenn, why don't you have a grudge against him as well?"

"You know I never really knew Mais-"

"Still! Does that mean you never cared about him at all?"

"There was no reason to! I hadn't gotten past an Irken Elite by the time you and Mais were chosen as Invaders! And you hate Zim even more because of what happened in training-"

"Don't you DARE bring that up!" I hissed.

"I still don't understand why you ever did that."

"Look, I... It..." I sighed and leaned back in my chair, closing my eyes and rubbing my forehead with a black-gloved claw. "Would you forget it? Please? I never want to remember that ever again."

"You sure about that?" I saw her smirking when I opened my eyes again.

"Stop teasing me about it. And you know how close Mais and I were."

"Alright..."

"I have to go, Tenn, okay?" I said, rather snappishly. Before she could speak again, I smacked a button on my keyboard end the call.

I gave another sigh as I massaged my temples, making my chair spin around and face the wall. Why did she do that? Didn't she know how terrible it felt when she talked like that?

If only I could remove the memories of that moronic, defective-

You can't talk about him like that, you know.

"Yes, I can," I growled.

You don't have any justification for it.

"I don't care!"

You know what you did, you can't just take it back, no more than you can get back Mais-

"SHUT UP!" I suddenly yelled, my chair spinning around again so I could slam a fist on my keyboard. Tears sprang to my eyes. "Don't EVER say that again!"

But my shouts were met with silence. Because there was no one there but me.

Whispers started up, very quiet at first, then they grew louder with each word, seeming to echo around the room and in my head, making it pound.

You know what you are... You can't run from it, hide from it, change it, erase it... You know what's happened, no use trying to bring or take anything back... Zim is still a part of your thoughts, just like Mais... You can't get rid of their names or memories... But Mais is still gone, and Zim-

"Stop it! STOP IT!" I screamed, grabbing at my head in a panic. The tears that had threatened to fall before now streamed down my cheeks.

It's all your fault, Bik... You worthless, pathetic, ungrateful Irken... You could've saved him... You didn't, and now it's all your fault. You deserve this pain... You need it... It's all your fault... All your fault...

The same three words turned into a sing-song, getting louder and louder until I felt my antennae vibrate from them and go numb. They repeated over and over mercilessly, seeming to hold me against the back of the chair and almost choke me.

I was aware of a strangled, screaming noise that sounded dreadful, and I realized it was coming from me. I also discovered how fiercely I was trembling.

All your fault... All your fault...

ALL YOUR FAULT.

"No it WASN'T! IT! WAS! NOT! MY! FAULT!" I was sobbing uncontrollably now, my claws clenched around the edges of the chair so hard it hurt. Not any worse than what was going on in my head.

Mais... He's not an Invader with you anymore... You don't deserve that high of a rank, anyway, or your height, who told you that you could be an Invader? It may be one of the few times the Tallest were wrong about something... Mais deserved it, not you. And now, he's gone because of you... You could have SAVED him.

Why was I in so much pain? What was that horrible, wretched, shrill cry that was ringing through the room along with the mocking voices, and that scraping, ripping sound? And why were there drops of turquoise blood oozing down my face?

I felt a very hard scrape against my head. I tried to smack away whatever was causing me pain, but my claws were already at my head... I was doing that, trying to rid myself of those mocking voices and doing anything to stop them... I felt very dizzy and light-headed. I looked at my claws. The gloves on them were stained and soaked.

"Milla... Come down here and... Help me..." I mumbled. But my SIR unit of course didn't hear me. My vision blurred.

I had to get up and to the elevator, to get to my bedroom and take care of this. I slowly got out of the chair, and activated my PAK-legs.

But I wasn't able to regain complete consciousness. I was able to make it a few feet, then, against my will, my eyes closed.

I slammed to the floor, letting out a moan. The PAK-legs retracted on their own. I fell into darkness, my thoughts and mind thankfully growing blank.

* * *

"RED! If you don't open this door I swear I'll kill you!" I yelled.

"I'm terrified, really!" yawned Red.

"Get me out of here! NOW! You will PAY for this if you don't let me out in the next ten minutes!"

"Maybe I could just slip a photo of Bik under the door and you can stare at it, blushing, just like you do during her transmissions, it won't be any different!"

I snarled. He'd sneaked up behind me and pushed me into a closet earlier. He'd somehow locked me in from the outside. And Bik was due to call us for another progress report in ten minutes.

"Only you can kiss the photo," added Red offhandedly.

"Shut your stupid mouth and let me out of here! Or I'll-"

"You've got absolutely no blackmail material on me, Pur, and we both know it, and tell me, exactly what you can do stuck in a closet?"

"...I hate you..." I grumbled.

He laughed again.

"What exactly are you hoping to accomplish by this?" I demanded.

"That's a good question. But it's just really, really fun to hear you stuck in there with your true love about to call."

"SHUT UP AND OPEN THE DANG DOOR! And stop laughing!"

"Not a chance!" he sniggered.

I banged on the door as hard as I could. "NOW, Red!"

"Or what!"

"...just... Let me out of this closet!"

"Oh, hey, there's only two minutes left," noted Red.

"Stop being such a JERK! I mean it! I'm going to kill you if you don't let me out of here! I really am!"

"Uh-huh..." responded Red, in a bored and slightly condescending tone that made me even more furious. "Sorry, but Bik's about to call and give her report, I can't miss that. Bye!"

I rammed on the door some more. "Don't you DARE answer that without me!"

He didn't answer me this time. Oh, no, _please_ tell me he didn't leave! I tugged on the knob some more, even though I knew I wouldn't be able to open it that way. I leaned against the door, panting slightly. I had been carrying on for about fifteen minutes now, and it was pretty tiresome-

The door flew open suddenly, making me fall out into the corridor. I hit the floor hard with a moan.

Red's smirking face appeared as he looked over me, his arms folded in a superior manner.

"Hi, Purple."

I glared horribly at him before pushing myself up off the floor.

"You are so dead-"

"I get it. We'll be late when she calls, you know, if we don't hurry."

I smacked him on the back of the head as hard as I could before starting off for the main control room. If only he'd stop _laughing _already...

And, right as we got there, one of the technicians told us that a transmission from Smeb was waiting.

I gave a small grin in spite of myself. I was going to ignore Red and not let him spoil anything for me.

The large screen crackled, then became clear. Bik was on the screen; she had a few scars and scratches on her head and a rather forlorn look in her eyes.

"Please excuse my appearance, My Tallest, I... There was something that happened earlier-"

"Bik? Are you okay? What happened?" I gasped. Red started giggling again.

"Oh, it's nothing..." She looked rather ashamed. She bit her lip and looked away, one of her claws rubbing at her eyes. She sighed and straightened up, looking back at us.

"It was nothing, at all."

* * *

I looked back at My Tallest, hating how I looked, but it was unavoidable; I had to call them today to give my usual progress report.

"Are you sure? You didn't get attacked by anything, did you? You're not in pain or anything?" Tallest Purple questioned anxiously. I saw him jab Tallest Red in the side, shooting him a warning glance. The scarlet-colored Tallest was still snickering, over what I had no idea.

"No, I assure you, I'm quite fine." I couldn't very well say, "I went through a moment of utter insanity and heard horrible, taunting voices that were mocking me about my brother, and caused me to tear at my own flesh and then make myself pass out." I had woken up ten minutes later after that, my PAK already at work healing the tears and scratches. Thank Miyuki, I was still able to put everything together for my call to the Massive that afternoon.

I started with the day's presentation, telling my leaders of the information I'd collected in the past week and a half. My mind was only half on what I was doing, I was still rather distracted. If I had been paying close enough attention, I would've noticed Tallest Purple watching me with a dopey, dreamy expression on his face, and Tallest Red chuckling every so often and shaking his head whenever he glanced at his comrade.

"...and that's all," I finished about twenty minutes later, switching off the hologram projector. "I hope that I provided some valid information."

Tallest Purple nodded eagerly and quickly, the stupid smile still on his face. Tallest Red rolled his eyes and said, "Yes, good work, Invader Bik. You have been making much progress on Smeb. Make sure to collect more information within a few weeks."

I saluted. "Thank you very much, My Tallest. Invader Bik, signing off." I shut off the transmission.

At least that went well... I took a deep breath and let it out slowly, looking up at the ceiling pensively.

I wished that I could let all my emotions drop away; it would be better if I were an android or something. Since the escape on that day, not as long ago as it seemed, when Operation Impending Doom 1 was in full-swing...

I pinched the space between my dark violet eyes as they closed. Maybe I should just go and sleep for right now... That would probably be best. I'd send Milla out for information retrieval in her disguise. My computer had designed a rather simple hologram for her to use when we were out. It was of a silver cat that had rather large ears, long whiskers, and a puffy tail. In that form, she could go around and discreetly scan anything worth looking into, then I'd bring up more information on it.

I yawned. I didn't really want to go upstairs to my bedroom, and the chair was comfortable enough.

* * *

I gasped for breath, running through the streets as I was pulled along quickly. My claw was sweaty, but I clenched it as hard as I could around my older brother's as he lead me through the chaos-ridden town.

"We've got to get out of here, my Spittle Runner's not far, I think," he choked out.

I screamed as some Irkens rushed by, knocking me over and jerking me away from Mais's grip.

"BIK!" He pushed past the rest of the group, grabbing for my claw again. "He's getting closer! Come ON!"

"I'm coming!" I cried.

Over the horrendous screams and numerous crashes, you could hear the loud bouts of despicable, maniacal laughter floating out of the enormous battle-mech as it rampaged through the streets of Irk. We were all getting killed because of him!

"There it is!" I pointed at Mais's Spittle Runner, feeling a massive collapse of relief inside me.

The loudest crash yet sounded from behind us. I felt my eyes grow wide, my blood running cold as I spun around.

"_Mais, we've got to go, now_!" I shouted.

He seemed frozen, staring up at the weapon of mass destruction. I tugged on him; he stumbled and nearly fell.

"Let's go! Right now!"

He gave a start, then his feet started moving again.

"BWA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HAAAA!" The laughter rang out, closer than ever. Another stomp hit the ground, crushing a ship near us.

We were running again. My head pounded, the colors around me blurring. All I did was hold tight to my brother's black-gloved claw.

He tripped over something, letting out a cry as he collapsed. I was jerked away from him.

"Mais! Come on, get up!"

"Go on, get the Runner started!" he ordered. "I think my ankle's twisted or something! Go ON!"

I started racing across the ground again, after glancing back at him despairingly. I had to get it started-

Another enormous explosion sounded behind me. I spun around as I heard a strangled scream.

The battle-mech had reached us. Mais was caught in its path.

"MAIS! CAN'T YOU GET AWAY!" I hollered.

"I CAN'T STAND UP!" He seemed to choke on his words as he looked up again at the machine, his eyes that were so dark a violet they were almost ebony were widened in terror.

"_MAIS_! PLEASE, _GET UP_!"

He tried fruitlessly to get up and run again; he fell again to the ground with a yelp of pain. He finally activated his PAK-legs-

When another step was taken by the battle-mech.

The noises around me diluted as I stood stock-still, gaping at the spot. I couldn't swallow the lump in my throat. I felt my mouth move, barely able to form the only word that crossed my mind.

"No."

I wasn't able to think anymore. I felt my knees shaking as I sank to the ground, not even aware of what was going on anymore.

My mind and world went dark in the next second, seeping into unconsciousness among the wretched cries of terror from all the others who were just as unlucky as my older brother.

* * *

I woke up then, shaking terribly with beads of perspiration sliding down my face along with tears.

I couldn't rid myself of the memory. No matter how hard I tried. Mais had been my best friend on Irk, ever since smeethood. The memory that was haunting me and my dreams and had been ever since that one day.

And he was destroyed in a single second, and the one responsible didn't have a single clue.

I laid back down, my tears soaking my face as I sobbed into the pillow.

My brother was gone... Because of the one I loved. The one I'd actually shown affection to.

And I still hadn't been able to shake myself of those feelings even after the end of Operation Impending Doom 1.

* * *

A/N: In case you were confused, his name is pronounced 'Mayce'. And... I didn't have fun writing this... It was kinda sad... And the next chapter's not going to be coming for a while, sorry!


	5. The Best Day Ever Almost

A/N: Wow, I can't believe the break between updates! I'm horrible! ;o; But, I got to plan out the rest of the actual story, so yeah. I will try and update at least one to two weeks apart from now on. You guys are amazing for sticking around to read the next chapter! And here it is. The story, I believe, will be fourteen or fifteen chapters long. I hope you'll all be able to suffer through my slow updates long enough to read the rest... And thanks to all of my friends on deviantART who checked this out and love it. Well, enough of my foolish drabbles. Let's move on with the show.

* * *

It had been a while since I'd seen Red so pleased. He'd been getting frustrated with the slow pace that the Invaders were moving at, and finally a planet had fallen victim to the Irken Empire. Planet Blorch. I'd forgotten who we sent to that planet, but I supposed it was one of our better, taller, and more capable Invaders.

Red was addressing an enormous crowd down below the platform we were standing on, the Planetary Conversion Team. They were a mixture of current Invaders, scientists, Irken Elite, and ones hoping to be so.

"Welcome, Planetary Conversion Team!" he called. "Welcome to Blorch, the latest addition to the Irken Empire, and more importantly, the first planet to fall victim to our latest effort at universal conquest, Operation Impending Doom II!"

The crowd cheered. Some elated guy yelled out, "Almighty Tallest rock!"

Red and I grinned at this, and my partner went on.

"So, we erase the remaining organics on Blorch, paving the way for... I dunno... A parking-structure planet?" suggested Red.

"Yeah! Parking-structure planet!" I contributed.

"But first, we'd like to acknowledge the contribution of one very special soldier without whom this victory and those surely to come," Red smirked, "wouldn't be possible!"

"Invader Zim!" I announced. I'd never say that again in my life, but I knew what Red meant.

"You see, if Zim hadn't been exiled to the far reaches of the galaxy, he would be here, with us, ruining everything!" Red scowled, saying his last words contemptuously.

"Yeah, and we all remember how he messed up Operation Impending Doom I! Am I right?" I added.

"I don't!" answered one apparently really stupid person who obviously didn't care about his own welfare.

"What!? Seize that guy, and, um, throw him out the air-lock!" I quickly decided.

A couple of guards snatched up an Irken, and Red and I watched, amused, as the scene played out.

"That was the wrong guy..." I shrugged. "But- That's okay! I think everyone gets the point!"

Red nodded. "So let's give a big cheer for Invader Zim for being so far away!"

The crowd obliged. "Invader Zim rocks!" spoke up the excited one who had shouted earlier.

A transmission signal beeped. I grinned again as Red chuckled. "Quiet, everyone! We have a little surprise for you! It looks like we're getting a report from Zim right now! Transfer to the main-view screen!" he ordered.

The transmission screen flicked on, and I nearly burst out laughing. What in Miyuki's name was Zim wearing...?

Zim smiled in response to the cheer he was receiving. "Well, thank you! How very well deservant of me! Invader Zim reporting in, sirs!" He saluted us.

"Yes, greetings, Zim. Keeping... Busy, it looks like. Doing us proud." Red put his claws behind his back, faking admiration.

"Thank you, thank you!" replied Zim. "Yes. Yes I am. I'm in a bear suit!" he informed us.

The crowd cheered again at this. "Please, enough!" said Zim, looking every bit like he deserved so much praise. Little conceited moron. He turned to us again. "Following Invader protocol, I sent probes to surrounding planets to check them for potential use."

"Uh-huh..." Red quirked an antenna.

"Scans from a planet named 'Mars' look intriguing. You can expect a full report when I receive more information!" Zim told us.

He honestly didn't have a clue about how _stupid_ he looked. "Thank you... Invader Zim," I said, trying very hard to keep a straight face. "Without your efforts out there, the- The entire operation would- Surely crumble!" I managed out.

Red was snickering madly, covering his mouth with his claws. He recovered and said to the crowd, "Let's hear it for Zim!"

They cheered once again. Zim saluted a final time and ended his transmission.

"_Idiot_," I scoffed.

"I know. He's never going to realize that we don't care about his so-called information retrieval," snorted Red. "I think that it was actually kind of good that he didn't die out in space; it's really funny to see him make such a fool of himself for the rest of Irk to see. Even if he does never listen to us."

"Very true." I let my gaze wander down to the crowd. Hadn't Bik come here with everyone else?

Ah, yes. I spotted her talking to her younger sister, Tenn. I saw her smile, making me sigh softly. I felt a smile of my own slide onto my face as I watched her from the platform. She was beautiful. One day I'd tell her that we should be mates, and then we would be, and we'd spend everyday on the Massive never out of each other's sight and we'd eat snacks together, then sleep every night wrapped in each other's arms, and eventually have little violet and lavender-eyed smeets together-

_Gah!_ Where did that come from! I shook my head fiercely.

"What're you looking at?" asked Red.

I turned my head. "Oh. Nothin'. Just...the crowd. I... Don't you think we... need more scientists or something? It seems like we don't have enough... I guess..." I chuckled nervously.

Red narrowed his eyes. "You're a horrible liar. Horrible. What were you sighing about?"

"I was just...watching Bik. Please shut up this time and stop teasing me about it-"

"What fun would that be?" Red sneered. "It's funny seeing you get mad and blush so hard at the same time."

Which was what was happening at that moment. I hated when he got on my nerves like that about my crush on her.

"You're more of a stalker than anything, Pur. All you do is watch her and never really try to talk to her. Why don't you just follow her after this is all done and try stealing her gloves or something so you can sniff them everyday?"

"Ew!" I gave him a shove. "That's creepy _and_ gross! You're almost as bad as Zim!"

He laughed. "You sure about that? I'm guessing you'd rather have me as your co-Tallest instead of him."

I shuddered badly at the thought of Zim being a Tallest. "If Zim was my co-Tallest, then I'd probably be dead by now. I either would've killed myself already from insanity or he would've murdered me by accident."

"That's true... Irk would be absolutely nothing if he was in charge," remarked Red.

"Except he won't ever be, unless the Control Brains declare that the shortest be the rulers."

"He has to be the shortest Irken ever. Short enough to be our service drone. But then he'd probably blow up the Massive if he were... Irk, is there anything that he doesn't mess up?"

"No. Not at all. Hey, Red," I suddenly thought. "do you think that since Zim killed the past two Tallest, he's going to wind up killing us, too?"

"Of course not. Miyuki and Spork were completely unprepared and were off their guard for all of Zim's stupid mistakes. He's never going to get the better of us." Red smirked in his oh-so-superior manner.

* * *

"Now, to acknowledge the Invader behind this important victory, who is none other than... Um..." It appeared that Red had forgotten who had conquered Blorch as well. An adviser ran up to us and whispered the name to him.

"Invader... Skoodge...?" Red looked at me in disbelief. I blinked back, as astounded as he was. Skoodge was about as short as Zim and three times as round. We had wanted very much to get rid of him, and he was not supposed to have conquered anything.

The crowd gasped in shock. They were as horrified as we were.

"Guh! This can't be right!" Red hissed to me. "That cannot be the poster boy for Irken galactic conquest! He's so... _Short_!" We looked again at the squat little Irken who looked very pleased with himself.

"And ugly! I mean, look at him!" I commented. It was true. He was...disgusting. All pathetically short Irkens were.

Skoodge walked up to us, and we shrank back slightly. If he dared touch us... Ew.

"Greetings, My Tallest!" he saluted. "As the Invader responsible for this planet's downfall, I get to launch the traditional final cannon sweep, right?" Skoodge asked.

"Er, yeah-" Red started quickly.

"So no Irken boot has to come into contact with any unsavory alien filth!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, there's a new tradition now!" said Red.

"Man, you're ugly!" I mentioned, eyeing Skoodge with disdain.

"And short!" added Skoodge. Wow, he was also stupidly agreeable.

"The new tradition is that you get to be launched as part of the canon sweep!" Red told him. I had to admit, that was one of the best ideas that Red had had in a while. A hatch opened up in the wall, lowering a stairway into the hatch of the main cannon.

"That's right! In you go!" I encouraged Skoodge.

He shrugged and climbed into the hatch. I slammed the door of it shut and Red commanded, "Commence organic sweep!"

Skoodge was shot out of the canon and smashed into the side of Blorch with a very satisfying, crunching _thwack_.

I turned my eyes to the crowd and pointed to Invader Grapa. "You! Your name is now Skoodge, conqueror of Blorch."

Grapa blinked, then accepted what I'd told him without a word and smiled proudly as cameras surrounded him.

The Armada began wiping out what was left of Blorch. Miyuki, this had to be one of the best days ever.

"Hey, Red... re... remember that one time..." I spoke up, trying to hold in my giggles. "When Zim called us and he was covered... he was covered from head to foot in meat?"

"Yeah! The meat ended up fusing to his flesh, and he almost went blind when it invaded his eye sockets!" Red laughed. "_Meat..._"

We burst into chuckles again. Suddenly, the transmission signal beeped.

"Oh! It's Zim!" Red tried shushing me, but we both started laughing again. We calmed down a moment later and Red opened up the transmission.

"Greetings, Tallest! I bring more evidence of my unbelievable skill!" Zim informed us.

"M-more evidence?" I chortled.

Zim smiled. "Yes! I've made an exciting discovery! The planet Mars…"

He pressed a button on the control panel and it showed a picture of Mars. "is ACTUALLY a giant spaceship built by floating heads!" He began showing us different pictures, but I wasn't paying attention at all because I was trying so hard not to laugh at him.

"I shall fly it to Earth and roll it around on the surface, crushing all the life out of it and leaving it free to conquer without resistance! Prepare the fleet, for I will be firing the first volley in Earth's organic sweep tomorrow! Invader Zim, signing off!" Zim saluted a final time, and the screen went blank.

Red and I only had to give each other the smallest glance before we both nearly fell over laughing.

"Him! Be the one to fire the organic sweep for a planet!" choked out Red.

"That... Little... _Idiot_!" I gasped.

* * *

A short time later, Red and I were playing with tiny models of two planets: Earth and Mars. Red was rolling the little model of Earth over the surface of my tiny planet Mars.

"I'm Zim, I'm squishing out all life!" he sniggered. We both started laughing again. We calmed down somewhat a moment later... Until Red tossed his miniature Mars at my head, making the whole thing seem even more hilarious than it already was.

* * *

I leaned against the wall, my body weak from laughter. It was an hour later, and another transmission from Zim was waiting for us.

I straightened up, grinning at Red. "Are you ready for this?"

Red snickered once more. "I-I just started breathing again from the last one!"

The screen was activated. Zim was standing now in his home base, his uniform rather tattered.

"Mission accomplished, My Tallest! I have rid this solar system of planet Mars!" he told us.

"I thought you were trying to destroy the Earth!" I remarked.

Zim frowned slightly, then nervously smiled. "Oh! Yes. That. You heard wrong! This time I was trying to get rid of Mars. You know, just a little warm-up before I destroy the humans! Yeah, see, I'll do Earth next! I'm an unstoppable death machine, you know. Well, Invader Zim, signing off!"

Zim vanished from the screen, leaving us wrapped in peals of laughter again.

"Unstoppable death machine! Did he SAY unstoppable death machine!?" I chortled.

"Just a little a warm-up! A warm-up!" gasped Red.

I heard a crash from behind us, but I didn't care what it was. I was about ready to die of laughter.

* * *

"Wow... I don't think that I'm ever going to have as much fun as that..." Red sighed happily, then stuffed another few doughnuts in his mouth. "If only being a Tallest could involve just fun things instead of a bunch of boring speeches, meetings, or fancy parties."

We were now both in our lounge, feeling that we deserved to have a break after today from doing Tallest-y things.

"Yeah. But, if Operation Impending Doom II works, then we get to be leaders of the universe, instead of just Irk. That's gonna be really neat. We'll never have to wait for snacks again because of all the servants we'll have running around!" I said.

"That's true. And we can punish them just for the fun of it because of all the extras we'll have; we won't have to find excuses for doing it."

I nodded and fished more doughnuts from the bag. "Do you think the Invaders left yet?" I asked my partner.

"Why?"

"No reason, really." I felt my face flush slightly.

"My ribs cracked earlier from laughter, so don't make me snicker, Purple. You're about as subtle as Zim."

I shot him a scowl. "Do not compare me to him."

"You hypocrite."

I tried remembering what the word hypocrite meant, then dismissed it. "I'll be back in a second, okay?" I got up from my chair.

"Sure. Give me details if you're able to make out with her in some closet before the night's over."

My antennae flattened against my head as I growled at him, then left the room.

* * *

I assumed that Bik would be heading for the docking station on a lower level. At least that's what I hoped. I needed to catch her before she left. As far as I could tell, the Invaders wouldn't gather on the Massive again for months, and I really didn't want to call her. I wanted to speak to her face-to-face. And I knew I had no reason to be nervous about it. I didn't, at all! Why wouldn't she want to be mated with an Almighty Tallest?

But a shred of doubt pierced my feelings. With anyone else, I wouldn't be worried about them loving me. But Bik seemed different. I didn't know why... she was a lot more special than anyone I'd ever met, maybe that was it. My own violet passion that I wanted to hold in my arms and kiss at least once.

I made my way quickly through the corridors, silently praying to the past Tallests to let me see her before she left. I had to, I had to...

Thank sweet Tallest Miyuki. I hid behind a wall as I saw her coming down the corridor at a rather brisk pace. She was inspecting her claws as she walked. They looked remarkably soft for an Invader...

Get a hold of yourself, Purple, I told myself sternly. I shut my eyes and leaned against the wall, taking a deep breath. When she walked past, I'd speak up after I'd gathered my courage.

"Oh, hello, My Tallest, I wasn't expecting to see you down here."

A yelp escaped me as my eyes shot open. Bik had spotted me before I had gathered _all_ of my courage, which wasn't part of the plan.

"Uh, yeah, you know, I was just... there was... I was sent to... inspect something in this... corridor...?" I said, twisting an antenna around my finger nervously. "Apparently, there was something... wrong that had happened down here. Yeah, that's it, a service drone was carrying lots of snacks and they spilled everywhere, then... somebody stole them and that's why they're not on the floor right here. And I was needed to see who stole them. You know, those pesky little... snack-stealing... people-things."

I mentally cursed myself after babbling all that out, as Bik eyed me with an expression of utter confusion and a hint of amusement. "Well, that sounds... urgent, sir. I should let you keep up with your work. I must return to my mission on Smeb."

She started off again. I stood there for a moment, wanting so much to just say what I needed to, but I couldn't form any words at all.

"W-wait a second!" I finally managed out. "Bik, there's- There's something I want to tell you!"

She turned again, and looked almost annoyed, but adopted a straight expression as she looked up at me again. "Yes, sir?"

"Er... um... I... I've needed to t-tell you... something... for awhile now... um..." Stop stuttering and get the heck on with it! snapped a voice in my head.

"I..." I swallowed hard. "You... you've been doing very good work on your mission and I wanted to say that I'm proud of you; you're a valuable asset to the Irken Empire."

"Well, thank you, My Tallest." Even more confusion clouded her violet eyes. She gave the tiniest shake of her head and said, "I'm very glad I can please you so easily. Farewell." She bowed quickly, then turned on her heel and continued on.

I stared after her retreating figure, then clenched my claws tightly. I turned and bonked my head against the wall, letting out a moan. I... was... so... STUPID! She was standing right there in front of me and I had the best chance ever to tell her I loved her!

There was nothing I could do! Red was right; I never did anything but dream about her from so long a distance! I never made a real move to tell her my feelings...

At this rate, she'd always be on some far-off planet, even if she stood right in front of me, looking deep into my lavender eyes.


	6. And Then The Doughnuts Were Ruined

A/N: Finally get to write this episode out; I'm so glad! Well, the last one had one of my favorites: Battle of the Planets. But nothing beats Backseat Drivers from Beyond the Stars. :) Thanks to all my faithful reviewers! That's the reason I continue this badly OOC junk!

* * *

Was he ever going to stop? Ever? He'd often talked before without stopping... But this was different. He'd never gone on for three dang hours straight while repeating the same thing over and over again. Even _he_ should've gotten tired of this by now!

_But he would not just freaking shut UP! _

"My Tallest! My Tallest! Hey, My Tallest! My-my-my Tallest! My Tallest! My Tallest! My Tallest! Hey, My Tallest, My Tallest, My Tallest! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! My Tallest! MY TALLEST! My Tallest! My Tallest! My Tall-eeest! Hey! Hey, My Tallest! My Tall? Hey, My Tallest! It's me! Look at me! My Tallest! My Tallest! My Tallest?"

There was silence in the control room for a moment. He'd FINALLY cut it out. Thank Irk; my antennae had been growing numb.

"I was curious to see whether you'd shut up on your own," snapped Red. "But it's been _three _hours now, Zim- THREE HOURS!" he snarled loudly. "So- _What is it_?"

"I've just noticed that you've been traveling closer to the Earth than EVER before," replied Zim, beaming.

That was... odd. "How do you know that?" I asked the stupid pest suspiciously.

"Oh, I know all kinds of things about you," Zim said cheerfully. I blinked as he continued. "Anyhow, I was-"

"Hey!" I spoke up, fully realizing something. "That IS creepy! You're creepy, Zim!"

Zim chuckled at this, looking pleased. "Heh-heh... Yes. I sure am."

That was seriously wrong. What exactly did he know about us...? And how'd he get the information?

The more I thought about it, the more scared I felt. Did he have hidden cameras in our bedrooms or something?

I swallowed that thought and started listening to Zim again, however unwillingly.

"Anyhow, since you're so nearby I was thinking that you could stop by and witness my LASTEST AND MOST DIABOLICAL PLAN TO DESTROY THE HUMANS!" crowed Zim. "I made sandwiches!" He held up a plate, a goofy sort of smile on his face.

Red and I shared a glance. "Er, look, Zim," said my partner. "Maybe we'll stop by when we get back from... wherever we're going."

"But-" Zim started to protest.

"Sorry, Zim! We're being, uh, attacked!" Without a hint of warning, Red shoved me to the floor. I let out a yell as I hit it rather painfully. "By an enemy vessel! Ooh! Gotta go!"

I got up again as Red sliced a claw across his throat, silently ordering the transmission to be cut. A technician obliged.

"Enemy vessel- Ha! As though anyone would dare go up against the Massive," scoffed Red.

"Yeah, that is pretty funny," I agreed. My antennae suddenly jerked up in the air as I spotted my favorite thing on Irk being prepared. "Hey, someone's makin' doughnuts!" I yelled out excitedly.

Red cheered along with me, and we both rushed off to collect our snacks.

* * *

Ah, I could live on doughnuts. They were the best snack ever created. If I had a choice between saving Red or all the doughnuts on Irk from being destroyed, then I'd really, really have quite a hard time deciding between the two.

_What about Bik?_ an annoying voice in my head spoke up. _Would you save her? _

Of course! I thought.

_You'd choose her over your co-Tallest? Your best friend? Your older brother? _

Stop bothering me, I mentally growled, then stuffed several more doughnuts in my mouth. What do you know?

_That's so foolish,_ the pesky voice snickered. _You're_ _acting foolish, Purple._ _You have been for months, you know. Acting like such a stupid idiot. Your partner is right about you; you need to stop thinking about her. And you should know that. Red is the one being the more competent Tallest here. Will you let yourself be pushed down like that to nothing more than a second in command? _

I felt a slash of anger. Shut up! Of course not! I snapped back at the voice. It didn't protest further, and I smirked to myself. I focused on my snacks instead. There were many crew members below the platform we were standing on, looking up at us with big, pleading eyes. They all had to stand at the controls at all times, and even though PAKs supplied an Irken with nutrients to live, they were probably very hungry. They would probably be eternally grateful if one of us were to start giving them some of our doughnuts. Were we going to be gracious and kind to them? Irk, never! They didn't deserve any snacks meant for royals!

That was one thing I loved about being a Tallest. I could treat anyone exactly how I wanted and they couldn't speak back to me, or else they'd be punished. If only all my afternoons could be spent like this way; just eating snacks with Red instead of having to make speeches, attend stuck-up, fancy parties, or be at boring meetings. I decided we should make a law saying that the Tallest didn't have to do anything but enjoy themselves all the time.

I happened to glance out a window, and something caught my attention. It was a small, silver ship hovering in space next to us. "Hey... Whose ship is that!" I wondered, pointing at it.

Red followed my gaze, and looked puzzled as well. We accidentally dropped our bags of doughnuts, and the crew leaped up and snatched them away greedily. Eh, they'd be punished later.

"That's a Vort ship!" I remarked, referencing a race that had been conquered by Invader Larb some time back. "I didn't think there were any of those left! Call them, and tell them, we're gonna blow them up!" I commanded. There. I could take care of things too, just as good as Red. I was no second in command. A technician did as I asked and we waited for a response. It took a few moments to contact them. Red had gotten out a puppet that he liked playing with when he was vaguely annoyed with something.

The screen was finally activated, and showed several figures that looked like they were wearing... cloaks of some sort?

"Identify yourselves," commanded Red, his eyes narrowing as he tossed his puppet aside.

"We... are... the Resisty!" growled a deep voice. "We have come to-"

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait," I interrupted, holding up a finger. "Did you say- The Resisty?" I hoped I'd heard wrong. What group could have a name so terribly and laughable bad?

"Yes, yes, the Resisty!" answered the unknown figure. "We have come-"

"That's a stupid name!" I informed them, folding my arms across my chest.

There was a small pause, then lights clicked on in the tiny ship, revealing that everyone in it had been holding up cardboard cutouts on sticks. A Vortian wearing goggles was sitting in a control chair in the front, with other creatures around him. They all turned on one alien, who stumbled back slightly, looking nervous.

"See!? I TOLD you it was stupid!" the Vortian said angrily. "Why do I keep LISTENING to you!"

"I... dunno..."

There was another moment of silence, and you could practically feel the awkward. Thankfully, Red stopped wasting time and yelled out, "DESTROY THEM! Fire some- Kinda- Laser-thingy at 'em... _RIGHT NOW_!"

The members of the 'Resisty' all started screaming like female smeets. Red and I had received more doughnuts to replace the ones that had dropped, and we started laughing at the morons in the Vortian ship as we munched on our snacks. Wow! Could the day get any better?

Looking back on that memory, I hate myself so much for thinking that. I don't know if it was the past Tallests having a laugh at me or what, but it was at that moment when the monstrous disaster struck.

The Massive violently jerked to one side, then the other, throwing absolutely everyone off-balance. The laser blast soared to the side and missed the Resisty's ship, unfortunately, as everyone in the Massive became the ones screaming.

"What's happening!? Why have we lost control!?" I shouted.

The Massive must have hit something, as an enormous _thunk_ was heard and Red and I were thrown up against the wall. I was slightly dazed, until someone yelled out something else that had gone wrong.

"My Tallest!" cried an Irken officer. "Our weapons are offline! We're defenseless!"

Red and I let out even more panicked screams, but we were cut off as we were tossed against the still-activated transmission screen.

"You hear that!?" yelled the Vortian on the screen. "Their weapons are DOWN! Quick! After them! GET THOSE SNACKS!"

OH, GREAT! NOW _NOTHING_ WAS GOING RIGHT TODAY! I gasped, panicked, trying to collect as many doughnuts that were floating through the air as I possibly could. I spotted Red, who was grasping onto a control panel and had his eyes narrowed again, this time in concentration.

"What are you doing!?" I asked him over the noise.

"I'm running a manual diagnostic to find the problem!" he answered. "You! SAVE THE DOUGHNUTS!" he demanded of a technician that had been thrown past him.

The Massive gave another horrible jerk, and I was tossed against another wall, as was Red. I felt quite dizzy by that time. I hoped I wouldn't get sick all over everything because of this. My squeedley-spooch didn't hold well when really, really awful things happened.

The ship got veered a different direction again, and things absolutely couldn't get any better- We were headed straight for a large star. Red and I clutched to each other, shrieking. But, at least we weren't getting tossed about at that second. I calmed down enough to comment, "It ain't so bad!"

"I think so too!" agreed Red. But I heard him mention an Irken curse under his breath in the next second as the Massive flew straight into the star- And it actually burst through the other side from how fast we were going. The Vortian called something out again, but I didn't hear it that time because I was slammed against another wall. Red had gotten back at another control panel and focused on getting the problem fixed. "Ah-ha! Voice interface back online! Computer! Check each system for cause of problem!" he shouted.

I had gotten myself into a terrible panic-attack, and I'm surprised it didn't happen before that point. I choked out screams while eating the doughnuts that were still floating around, accidentally spitting crumbs all over the place. Red eyed me, blinking.

The next few seconds were the worst ones. It was as if whoever'd had control had given it to someone drunk on soda and way too much candy or something. I almost passed out from being smacked against the walls that time.

The Massive turned again, smashing against asteroids, over and over again. I had to rather give credit to Red, who had managed to stay at the control panel he was working at. His face lit up.

"I think I've located the source of the problem!" he called. "It's a signal coming from planet EARTH! Locked onto- OUR POWER CORE!" he roared. "Zim!" he hissed, his voice dripping with contempt. _  
_

"Are we gonna blow him up!?" I asked Red excitedly, still eating my doughnuts.

He pushed me out of the way and said, "Yes, but first things first! We need to ditch our power core! Transfer it into the Resisty's ship, it'll be their problem!" he commanded.

And a moment later, everything was finally calm. I had been actually getting used to the flying around by then though, and it was kinda fun... Oh, well. At least I wasn't banging into walls anymore.

* * *

A short while later, a cleaning crew went to work on fixing up the Massive as the Armada regrouped. Red and I were glaring at the transmission screen that would be activated shortly. Zim was going to be so very dead... I'd never known any Irken who would do something that... _stupid_! What in Miyuki's _name _had he been THINKING!?

"Long-distance communication: back online," a technician said to us.

"Now, let's give our friend _Zim_ a call!" Red said, his voice adopting a very sinister tone.

"Yeah. I'm going to make him _hurt_," I whispered venomously.

The screen flickered for a few moments, then finally activated.

The... the carnage. It... was... horrible. Absolutely everything was an utter wreck as things rampaged across the screen. Things screamed and shrieked, yelled and cried out. Bangs, things smashing...

The events of the entire day finally caught up to me and made me feel incredibly sick all of a sudden. Oh, Irk... "I'm going to throw up!" I announced weakly, swerving off to the side. Red recovered from the full-blown shock and glanced at me, then groaned. "Oh, not on the doughnuts!" he complained.

* * *

"And thank you, my wonderful partner, for making such a mess of everything. Irk, could this day get any better than it already is?"

"Oh, shut up and stop being so sarcastic. It's not my fault that Zim decided to eat five-hundred boxes of stupid pills this morning," I said wearily, sending Red a frown as I lifted my head from the pillow on my bed. "You're lucky I didn't get sick on any of the monitors you were working at."

"And _you're_ lucky that I was able to solve everything and make it all normal again," smirked Red. "All you were doing was trying to save your precious doughnuts. Which is pretty ironic, considering you threw up all over them a few minutes later."

"Yeah, yeah, I get it! Stop bringing it up! It's only going to make me sick again! Quit being a jerk. Just because you think you're the smartest Irken to ever have lived..." I grumbled.

"Uh-huh. I'm pretty awesome. Unlike Mister panic-attack-prone who got sick -"

"RED! Shut up!"

My comrade snickered. "And you know something else that I just remembered?"

"What?" I asked warily.

"Well, you know, there were a couple Invaders who were supposed to call today... and they were, lemme think... Tenn, Skit, and a certain violet-eyed female named Bik..."

"Wait, really? She was supposed to call today? Because I made a list of the times when she said she was going to call next -" I sat up on my lavender sheets and swiftly tugged a piece of paper out of my PAK.

"Sheesh, Pur," snorted Red. "You keep saying you're not a stalker, but keeping that seems a little obsessive."

"Is not!"

"I'll bet you have pictures of her stashed away, don't you?"

"No! And they're not under my pillow, either!" I stuck my tongue out at him.

Red rolled his eyes and snatched the pillow off my bed, knocking some of my photos to the floor. I gave a startled yelp and jumped out of bed, grabbing them up again to make sure they weren't harmed.

"Purple, I think that you need to stop thinking about her so much, okay? It's seriously weird and kinda scary. I don't think she'd want to go out with you anyway if she knew that you were such a creeper."

"I am NOT a creeper! I just like her!"

"I like you too, Purple. Well, sometimes. But I'm not going to be cuddling photos of you at night."

"Thank Miyuki, because that would be beyond disturbing." I sent him a look. "...you don't actually do that, do you?"

Red smacked a claw to his face. "No, you idiot! Of course I don't!" He got off his chair. "I'm going to see if the main control room is cleaned up, then I'll contact Bik."

"Wait for me!" I quickly followed after him.

* * *

The transmission screen flickered on, and I let a high-pitched giggle escape me as Bik appeared on the screen. "Hey, Bik! It's been a while since you contacted the Massive! I missed talking to you!" I waved at her energetically.

She gave me a slightly incredulous look, mixed with a hint of amusement. "Er... yes, sir, I suppose it has been, a few weeks, I suppose?"

I nodded. "Oh, yeah. I remember the last time you called. It was really great... you kept looking at me and you smiled a few times... it was nice..." I grinned and sighed happily. "I mentally record every time you call. I even remember the first time you called us after you first got to Smeb. You remembered the color of my eyes! And-"

Red smacked me on the back of the head and sent me a scowl. "Yes, we understand that she is a brilliant Invader. Now, please keep your mouth shut and stop making a fool of yourself."

_I told you before, Purple... _sneered the snide voice in my head. _He knows better than you! You're making yourself so much more easily dominated... _

I frowned and kept my mouth shut, but silently argued back, I am not! I'm just as superior as he is, and possibly more!

_Oh, no, you're not, not with a simple girl filling your thoughts. _

Bik is not simple!

_But she is. She is nothing more than a puppet, exactly like all the other Invaders, who just fill you and your partner's orders. _

Bik is so much more than someone to be used! I actually love her!

_Oh, is it _love _now, Purple? Do you know that true love is not very possible? You, of all people, should very well know. Seeing as you're an Almighty Tallest. Or should you really be? Red could start questioning you. Or maybe all of Irk will. They won't want someone like that for a leader... a defective... _

"I'm not a defective!" I hissed under my breath. "Don't you ever say that again!"

_Well, that could be put under investigation by the Control Brains... you might need you PAK to be looked over... but you don't want that, do you? _

I gulped and shuddered slightly. I couldn't stand being in front of the Control Brains. They rather frightened me.

Get out of my head! Just leave me alone! I mentally said.

_But this_ is_ you, Purple. Your own strong thoughts that are contradicting your silly, stupid ones. They're the ones you need to listen to. They're the ones that keep you on as an Almighty Tallest. If you had to depend on the thoughts that are all based on one little female, then you'd be nothing. Nothing but a wimpy little defective, stuck as a service drone, or worse, deactivated. You need to banish your idiotic thoughts, Purple._

Well, what if I don't want to! I want to keep her in my thoughts!

_Then you are a pushover, _snarled the voice. _You're an impudent moron who needs to depend on others! _

NO, I'M NOT!

_Then stop it! Stop acting like a child and get her out of your thoughts! _

Leave me ALONE!

_LISTEN TO YOURSELF! You're acting purely defective! Toss her aside and never start thinking about a little girl like her ever again! _

"Shut up! She's not a simple girl and I'm not a defect!"

There was silence in the control room after my outburst. I hadn't realized that I'd said that aloud until I'd blinked and focused out of my thoughts.

"Purple...? Are you okay?" Red asked quietly.

"Y-yes. I'm fine. Nothing's wrong." I swallowed hard and rubbed one of my arms, looking down at the floor.

I heard the voices of my co-Tallest and Bik continue, albeit fuzzily. What was happening to me?

Maybe I did have to stop thinking about her... was it what was best for me and the rest of the Empire?

But since when had I started caring about anybody other than myself?

I chose to ignore it all. I chose to keep thinking about her, even if I never did choose to stand up and say I wanted her for myself.


	7. Another Realization With a Dose of Pain

A/N: I'm getting pretty far into this story! And it's all thanks to the best reviewers in the world! I'd like to give a shoutout to PuddingNinja and ServenttotheTallest for reviewing every single chapter and posting long reviews. Hugs to the both of you!

Doing the last chapter was a great deal of fun. And I was able to further the plot! Didn't think that would happen! Adding on to canon episodes is very neat. Especially when I can fit them in along with the actual story... and this chapter shall be proof. :)

Another note! I'll be choosing a new username soon! Something having to do with my top three fandoms right now: Invader Zim, Doctor Who, and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Stay tuned for that.

* * *

I finished laughing as the transmission screen went dark.

"And that finishes up with Invader Spleen," I grinned. "Who's next on the list?"

Red glanced down at his clipboard. "Um... Skutch, it would seem. He kinda sucks at being an Invader... so he'll really deserve a pummeling. Ready to wish him a happy Probing Day?"

I snickered again. "Of course."

The screen activated again. Invader Skutch saluted us.

"Well, good morning, Invader Skutch," Red spoke up casually. "Do you happen to know what today is?"

"Erm, Probing Day, sir?"

I clasped my claws together and gasped. "Well! Look at who's all smart and informed! How nice! I say someone should get him a cookie!"

"Or better yet," said Red, "maybe we can show him how well he's been doing on his mission."

"And as I remember it, Red, Skutch hasn't been progressing very far. Shame, really," I sighed.

"Oh, yes, indeed," Red agreed. "And I'm sure you know what that means!"

"For doing a laughably bad job in more ways than one, Skutch, you get a pummeling!" I announced.

The poor stupid fool let out a loud yelp as hammers started smacking him on the head. Red and I smiled in satisfaction.

"Happy Probing Day, Invader Skutch!" chortled Red.

"Thank... thank you, s-sir..." Skutch said weakly.

"Irk, that never gets old!" I remarked gleefully.

"True. Wow... this is interesting..." Red drew a smirk onto his face, looking down at the list again. "Invader Bik is the one to be inspected next."

"Wait, really? We don't really have to punish her, right?"

"I dunno... I really think it would be pretty hilarious if she got pummeled while you begged for death, because seeing her hurt was such a tragedy that you couldn't stand this world anymore!" Red flung a claw over his eyes dramatically. " 'Oh, Red, please, she is the light that brightens my very existence! If you truly care about me, your younger brother, then stop this madness! This horrible madness!' "

I sank down in my chair and growled under my breath while Red started chuckling at his own cleverness.

"You think you're the most amazing person in all of Irk, don't you?" I snapped.

"Well... yeah, actually. It's just too easy to annoy you so much. I could be a lot more immature about it, if you'd like that better. And it might be more your speed."

"What in Irk's name is that supposed to mean?"

"Don't know if you've noticed, Pur, but you're not really... well, putting it bluntly, a whole lot smarter than a bunch of people I know."

"Wha- are you saying I'm stupid?"

"That's not what I said at all. I just said that you take longer to understand things."

"But... isn't that the same thing?"

"Not in the slightest."

I hated when Red said things that almost made my head hurt from thinking about them too much. I frowned and looked down at the floor. He really thinks I'm an idiot...?

_Of course, Purple, who doesn't? _

I clenched my claws into fists. Leave me alone, won't you?

The taunting voice gave a chuckle. _You never respond, do you? Because you know what I'm telling you is true. _

I'm not listening to you, okay? Not listening!

_Being immature again, aren't you? Must I point out all your ridiculous flaws? You're obviously not aware of them already. _

Shut up, go away, I don't CARE!

_But you do. That's why you get worked up when I need to remind you that you have to cease being such an utter moron. It gets under your skin, doesn't it? Makes you question yourself. _

I don't question myself! I'm an Almighty Tallest!

_I don't honestly believe that your position as Tallest will be secure for much longer... _

That's not true at all! You're trying to make me feel scared again!

_The truth is frightening, you fool._

I'm not immature or stupid or anything! Stop it and get out of my thoughts!

_You never say anything else... you never listen... proving all my points. You are not intelligent or a strong leader. You are a spoiled, bratty child put in a place of power simply because you're taller than most. And things simply given to delusional ones as yourself by even higher power... they can take it all away with just one simple act. Deactivation... deletion... demotion... death. _

I swallowed hard. The taunts were getting to where they wanted to go... into my fears and uncertainty.

Those are empty threats and I'm still not listening! I mentally answered.

_You're feeling frightened now. _

I am not!

_You can't hide anything from me; I am your thoughts. I'm what's keeping you in power. I'm the stronger half of your PAK, and you know that. And all of this can be inspected by the Control Brains with a single scan. Then they'll know how much you've been struggling... you'll try to fight them, but you'll be gone and erased from Irk's database before you finish your last terrified thoughts. And how much will anyone care about you then? Bik will feel guilty... but she'll know it's for the good of the Empire. _

What- what are you- what're you talking about!?

I felt a bonk on the side of my head. "Purple! What's wrong with you? I've been trying to get your attention for about two minutes already!"

"What is it?" I glanced at Red, who blinked and quirked an antenna in confusion.

"You okay? You look... really scared or something..."

"I... it's nothing, really."

"Purple, please." Red fixed me with a look of exasperation and slight frustration. "For once just tell me what's the matter with you. And you should be happy today! Come on! You absolutely love Probing Day! I was even going to let Bik off with a warning so you wouldn't start crying!"

"There's just been this annoying, pesky sort of voice that...um... it's been bugging me lately. It's nothing, I'm serious."

"Voice...? What do you mean?"

"I don't know! Exactly what I said! A stupid thing buzzing through my thoughts, that's all it is!"

Red was silent for a moment, then spoke up again rather quietly. "Pur, I'm getting a little worried about you. Your behavior's been pretty...erratic...lately. You're not nearly as carefree anymore. I don't really see you smile as much. And that's not like you at all."

"I know it's not. I think that... well..." I quickly thought of what I could come up with this time. "...er..."

"I'll bet it has something to do with that girl, doesn't it?" Red folded his arms across his chest and scowled.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, you know exactly what it means! A few months back, it was just annoying that you liked her, but it's, like... something deeper now. It's been messing with your thoughts. I think... maybe it's something in your PAK. There could be something there that's broken. Maybe the emotion chip is cracked. That'd explain it."

The stupid, scornful laughter echoed in my head again. _What did I tell you? _

STOP IT!

"Okay, so what? My emotion chip is cracked. What's the big deal?" Though I knew very well what was wrong with that.

"Stop playing stupid!" Red was beginning to lose his temper with me. "You know that it'll have to be inspected and fixed! If it's left alone, it'll only get worse!"

"I don't care! I'll be fine!"

"Not if you're found defective!" snarled Red. "Purple, listen to me! I know there's something wrong with you and it needs to be checked!"

"You can't make me do that! I'm completely normal and I am not a defective! I don't care what you or anyone else says!"

"Sure. Whatever. You know what? Fine. See if I care if your PAK ends up getting destroyed. I won't have to put up with your crap then." Red sent me a final look of disdain and called out bitterly, "Contact Invader Bik on planet Smeb."

* * *

"...and then I said 'I didn't prepare a puppet show, sirs, I had no idea that I was required to', then..." Tenn was explaining her Probing Day experience to me so I'd know what was coming. "Bik, I swear I didn't do anything next but look at them in confusion, but... these hammer-things came from nowhere and started smacking me on the head! I only started seeing straight a few minutes ago!"

I had to hold back a small giggle. "Wow, I'm sorry. So, what should I do?"

"I dunno! Sew a couple of puppets as fast as you can and put together some plot so you can entertain those- those-"

"Dimwits?" I coughed.

"Bik, please don't do that." Tenn looked back at me uneasily.

"Do what?"

"Mock the Tallest. You're not in training anymore. You can't think of Red as just a jerk-"

"He's a pervert, too," I added.

"Bik! Honestly! And you can't think of Purple as just weird anymore, either!"

"He _is _weird! Every time I call, he's like 'oh my Irk your face is like sugar on a rainbow' or some stupid shiz like that!"

"He likes you, Bik. I really think he does."

"I really think you're insane." My communications signal beeped then. "I think they're calling now, actually. Talk to you later."

Tenn grimaced. "Bye."

My screen switched to depicting my leaders, who looked... well, not happy. Tallest Red looked ticked, and Purple looked downcast. He brightened slightly when he looked at me, then suddenly ducked his head and winced.

"Greetings, Bik," spat Red, and I was taken aback at his repulsion. "I'm sure you know it's Probing Day, and-"

"I didn't prepare a puppet show, I didn't have time and I'm sorry for that, sir."

"Shut up and don't interrupt me again," he snapped. "Anyway, as I was saying, your progress is fine and I guess you're doing a great frickin' job there on Smeb. And I want to tell you something else."

"Yes?" I quirked an antenna.

"If you keep speaking to me in that insolent tone then I'll have you pummeled hard enough to damage your PAK."

I held back a snort. Too late, My Tallest.

"Now, I have to inform you of one certain thing. In case you get any ideas that you're going to be accepted as anything more than an Invader to my partner, then get rid of them. You barely got to be an Invader and you're scraping by because your skills are passable. But you're not becoming his mate, and I'm going to make sure of that, make no mistake about it."

"What- I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about-"

"Oh, don't you?" Red's eyes narrowed to slits.

"No, I don't!" I cried, bewildered.

"Good. Remember that warning and don't disobey it, no matter what _he _says." Red shot Purple a glare. "You're out of his league and will never be in it."

"Stop talking to her like that," Purple muttered, still looking down at the floor. "She doesn't deserve it and you don't have a damn reason to yell at her-" He cut himself off when he yelped and shuddered badly.

Red shifted his eyes from me to Purple, unsure. "...call back in a month or so," he ordered to me after a pause. The screen went blank.

I looked at the blank screen for a moment, utterly puzzled. What did he mean...? Was-

Oh.

I sank back down slowly in my chair, blinking in shock. He... he...

Tallest Purple, Almighty Tallest Purple, the one I'd always thought as such a weirdo in training... that was why he always acted the way he did. I could see it now. He had a crush on me. He'd always had a crush on me, ever since that one day when he'd accidentally bumped into me while he was trying to catch up to his older brother. The memory was clear in my PAK...

* * *

I looked over the throng of Invaders-to-be to see if I could spot Mais, so I could talk to him before we were to be sent to our dormitories. He was one of the taller males, but I still couldn't see him.

"Red! Wait for me!" called out a high-pitched tone. The voice was slightly familiar, but I wasn't paying attention- until I was shoved to the floor.

"Hey! Watch it!" I yelled. The one responsible had brushed past me, and I grabbed his leg and knocked him to the floor. He cried out in pain.

"Why'd you do _that_?" he groaned, pushing himself back up. "That hurt!"

"Why'd you push me out of the way?" I scowled at the lavender-eyed male.

"I... I didn't mean to, I'm really sorry..." His antennae flattened, then one quirked up in the air.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

He blinked. "Like what?"

"You're staring at me."

He ducked his head and rubbed one of his arms. "I'm sorry. Um... what's your name? I'm Purple."

"I'm Bik, future Invader." I half-grinned.

"I'm... future Tallest."

"Really? That's aiming high."

"Well, why not? I'd like to prove to Red that I'm not just his little brother, but someone who can handle things well. And I _am_ five feet and four inches tall already." Purple smiled, obviously proud of this fact.

"So is my older brother, but he's stopped growing."

"I haven't."

"Well, Purple, if you do become Tallest, then I'll promise to be your best Invader."

"Or royal guard."

"Or adviser."

"Or mating partner."

"What?"

"What? I didn't say anything."

I eyed him for a moment, before shaking my head. "Okay, then. I guess I'll see you later, maybe."

"I hope so!" He waved as I walked off.

"Weird kid..." I muttered.

* * *

So that's why he always acted so... so stupid! The idiot was in love with me! Good Irk, honestly? Did I have to go through this again!? After Zim, that little... and now a Tallest had a crush on me. Bik, the defective Invader.

Tallest Red was exactly right. I was out of my league. Out of it completely. I didn't deserve this. I was only an Invader because strings were pulled as tightly as they could be. I doubted the Tallest both even knew I was a defect. Why else would Purple like me so?

I'd have to tell him eventually what I was. That I kissed Zim in training, became his mate extremely briefly, then was made defective by the same male. Zim had killed my brother, making my emotion chip override even more from what I was feeling. And I was left in disgrace, until I pleaded as hard and as long as I could with a Control Brain. I was left off only because I'd promised to work harder than any Invader ever had. I was no mate material for a Tallest.

I was barley material enough for an Irken Invader.

* * *

"What- I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about-" Bik started to protest to Red, while I frowned at the floor.

"Oh, don't you?" Red shot back at her.

"No, I don't!"

"Good. Remember that warning and don't disobey it, no matter what _he _says. You're out of his league and will never be in it."

I felt a stab of anger. I knew he was pissed at me, but she had no idea. He didn't need to talk to her that way.

"Stop talking to her like that," I said. "She doesn't deserve it and you don't have a damn reason to yell at her-"

_Shut up, you little IDIOT! He does and you know it! _A buzz of electricity rippled down my spine, making me cry out. My PAK had done that to me; it had electrocuted me. That was new and it really scared me. I was apparently going to be punished without words as well.

I heard silence, then Red's uncertain tone. "...call back in a month or so." In the next second, I felt his claw on my shoulder.

"Purple, look up and tell me what's wrong right now."

"It's... just... nothing, really. Please can you leave me alone now? I'm going to bed for an hour or so. We'll get back to the inspections later." I rose from my chair.

Red glared at me again, but went back to his own chair. "Fine. You're being beyond annoying, anyway."

_Watch your step, Purple. Don't want to get hurt again, do you? _

I ignored the voice completely this time. I instead dwelt on what Red had told Bik.

So would she realize now that I wanted her? She wasn't stupid. And Red had told her that she was to stay away from me...

So what? I decided if I was able to chase her down, I wouldn't hold back from telling her that I did want her. I wouldn't stop myself from kissing her as deeply as I wanted. I'd choose her to be my mate, no matter what my partner said.

_You will not! _snarled the voice. _Don't you- _

"Screw you," I said out loud, feeling much more self-confidant than before. "Shut up and don't bother me again."


	8. Smoke and Mirrors

A/N: Merry late Christmas and Happy New Year! Hope you all like this chapter. Plot's really moving along now... mwa-ha-ha...

* * *

"Plasma-armed battle tanks... maim-bots... death-wave canons... and-" I paused in reading the list of requested items, one of my antennae quirking in complete confusion. "A sack of taquitos?" Red and I looked at the transmission screen, bemused.

"Just a few supplies I need for completing my mission," grinned Zim.

"You got mah taquitos yet?" His defective SIR unit popped up on the screen.

"Your exile- er, _mission,_" Red hastily corrected himself, "is to observe the planet, Zim, not annihilate it." He rolled his eyes as he sat back down in his chair.

"Ah, yes! But, I'm quite good at annihilating!" Zim said. Yes, thank you for stating the obvious, you little pest.

"_TAQUITOS!_" squealed the SIR unit. "And a clown with no head!"

"Look, Zim, we'd love to grant your request, but we think you're insane!" I winced and quickly said, "Um, untrained!"

"UNTRAINED!? Me!? Invader _Zim_!?" My comment successfully provoked an outburst from Zim, as I'd thought it would. I smirked at his indignation while Red said dismissively, "You're trained as an Invader, Zim- battle tanks are for hardened soldiers."

"Hmf!" Zim folded his arms across his chest angrily.

I suddenly had a brilliant idea, which was not really something I could claim very often. "Hey! How about we send Zim to Hobo 13? It's the finest military-training planet ever!" I said, looking down at my clipboard. "Zim! On Hobo 13 you'll be torn limb from limb!" I cried gleefully.

"_Evaluated_!" Red cut in. "Evaluated as a soldier! If you pass, we'll send you a big bag of battle tanks!" he promised.

"But not that... clown-thing," I added.

"HEADLESS CLOWN! _HEADLESS CLOWN_!" shrieked the SIR. Zim knocked it to the floor. "Very well, My Tallest. To attain my tanks I will allow the evaluation of my incredible brain meats! Zim out!" He saluted.

"How 'bout robo-clown taquitos?" The robot popped up again, trying to imitate his master and salute us as well.

The transmission screen clicked off. Red and I shared a grin before we both burst into laughter.

"Finally! We're going to get rid of that stupid moron for good!" cackled Red.

"When he dies, we should make it a holiday! Like the opposite of Horrible Painful Overload Day or something!" I added.

"You know what else we should do? We should invite the Invaders to see him fail. It would scare them into doing better."

My heart leaped at 'invite the Invaders'. I'd finally be able to see her again-

_Don't start, Purple. _

I instantly stiffened. Ignore it... ignore it...

_If you want to ignore me, then start focusing. _

I have been. Now shut up.

_You only have been when I'm reminding you. _

Yeah, you're really friendly for doing that. The electric shock helps, too.

The voice sounded innocent with its next response. _What? You mean this? _

I held back a shriek. That was NOT fair! I mentally shouted.

_Purple, does it really matter what you think is fair or not? You think 'fair' would be if you got to sleep with Bik every night and remained Tallest at the same time. _

And your point?

_My point is, you idiot, that you're still acting so damn spoiled that it's sickening. Do you think any other Tallest has acted this way? Miyuki? Spork? Red?_

If I'm a bratty child, then so is my brother.

_You're so deeply in denial, Purple... _The crooning, teasing tone almost made me shiver. _Have you seen the way he looks at you nowadays? 'Is he going to snap at me or mutter quietly this time?' he's thinking. 'Is he going to start crying or something? What the hell is wrong with him?' _

Oh, yeah? I still think you're lying.

_Look at him right now, Purple. He's been trying to get your attention, but he's given up and concentrating on something other than you. _

That was... actually correct. Red was scribbling something on a clipboard. No doubt that he'd wanted to consult me about what it was. I felt vaguely guilty, though I wasn't sure why.

_See? _Snickering started up in my head. My antennae flicked back from anger. Irk, would you just stop it and go away!?

_If you so desire... 'My Tallest'. _A sharp pain suddenly spread across my spine, and I did emit a cry this time.

I heard Red sigh, then set his pen down. "Are you going to tell me why you're in pain or are you going to wallow in your own bizarre mood swings?"

I glared at him. "I'll wallow, thank you."

"Have fun with that." He picked his pen back up, but he shook his head and tossed it and the clipboard away after a moment. "No, Pur, I want you to tell me what's wrong this time. Probing Day wasn't as fun as it should've been and that was because you... ugh, I don't even know! You seemed to be arguing with the floor as if it scared you or you were mad at it!"

"The floor's a jerk."

Red rolled his eyes. "Sure. I'll bet the wall was conspiring against you as well? Then the windows?"

"Wow, Red, you don't even know. The sheets on my very bed tried to eat me last night!"

"I'll eat you if you don't start talking to me again," he muttered.

"I'm talking! See? Hear that? My voice? La la la la la! That's me talking!"

"Will you just cut that out?"

"Cut what out?" I blinked at him innocently.

"You know what."

"Um... let me check that. Nope, sorry, it seems I do not know what you mean. You might choose to check back later for a better and more pleasing response. Thank you and have a nice day!" I was being obnoxious and I knew it. It always got him to leave me alone.

"I'll throw this clipboard at you if you don't - "

"If I don't whaaat?" I whined.

One of his eyes twitched. "You're trying to get out of this and it's not going to work."

"How could you accuse me of something like that? Now _you're_ the one being a jerk." I sniffed haughtily.

"I know that-"

"Yes. It's good that you do. Now that you know you have a problem, you can work on fixing it. Have you had counseling?"

He did throw his clipboard at me this time. I didn't care; I was already giggling.

* * *

I felt inordinately better later, actually focusing on Tallest-y things. Well, just planning Zim's death was more like it. Red and I were going to throw his funeral party as soon as he keeled over on Hobo 13.

Speaking of which, the training had started on the military planet. Zim, as we saw on our transmission screen, was proudly marching in front of the group, as annoyingly superior as always.

"As you can see, brave Invader Zim has begun his journey to the Fortress of Pain!" sniggered Red, turning from the screen to address the Invaders.

"Anyone wanna bet he gets blown up?" I asked hopefully, tapping my pen against my clipboard.

"A thousand monies something eats him up!" called one Invader, Sneakyonfoota.

"Okay," I agreed, jotting it down. "Anyone for chopped in half?"

"Ooh, me, I bet two-thousand monies!" answered another Invader.

"You do realize that if nobody bets for Zim, we could be down a lot of monies," Red said to me in an undertone.

That was extremely true and the best idea I'd heard from my partner in a while. "Anyone for Zim succeeding? Come on!"

Nobody volunteered. A big surprise. I was about to tell Red how stupid he was until he stopped a tiny little service tone that happened to be walking past.

"You! Table-headed service drone Bob! You will bet five-hundred-thousand monies on Zim!" said Red.

"But... I only make five monies every two years," replied Bob.

I really didn't see any point about that. "Five-hundred-thousand for Zim!" I announced.

The room burst into laughter. Bob's eyes filled with tears. So _pitiful_...

* * *

What... the... why...

Zim had actually... done it. He'd crossed the lava pit on Hobo 13. Though he'd cheated, he still crossed without a scratch on him.

That wasn't. Frickin'. _Possible. _

"That shouldn't happen," mumbled Red. Yes, thank you for that, my comrade. It made everything worse that Bob was standing behind us, tapping out the monies he would earn on a calculator if Zim did manage to win. Little twerp... but Zim was always stupidly lucky. It was nothing to worry about.

* * *

I was still convincing myself that after Zim sacrificed Skoodge to some hideous monster. And I would _not _be mentally thanking Zim for getting rid of Skoodge, either.

"If Zim finishes, I get six-million monies!" Bob whispered tearfully, his tone overjoyed. Someone needed to take his happiness down a notch and make him much more miserable than myself, as was the natural order of things.

"Oh, Bobby? It appears I need a refill," I spoke up, holding out my glass.

"Argh, get it yourself!" snapped Bob.

My thoughts were paused completely at that little outburst. That didn't ever happen. It wasn't supposed to. Ever. I ordered someone to do something and they did do it. It was simple and beautiful. But the service drone didn't understand this process, apparently.

Red and I shot each other looks. Someone really had to be done about him. And quickly.

* * *

Throughout the whole thing, Zim was left unscathed by making the other trainees be sent away. One after the other; they were getting picked off like flies. Finally, only Zim was left, and the sergeant was angry enough to try to tear the idiot to shreds. Only he wasn't successful. Zim defeated him and he was carried off by the monster that had tried to eat Skoodge.

On the screen, Zim had walked out of the Fortress of Pain and picked up the sergeant's dog tags. "Um... this completes my evaluation! Surely the Tallest can deny my request no longer! I am ZIM! BRING ME THE TANKS!"

Bob let out a triumphant laugh and tossed away the tray that had been attached to his head. "You can serve yourselves from now on!" His cackles were infuriating. Both my partner and I glared furiously down at him.

"He's already so brutally murdered, isn't he?" I muttered to Red.

"Oh, yeah," he hissed.

"What are we going to do with him?"

"As long as it's slow and really painful, then it doesn't matter. We can shoot him into a sun or whatever. And we'll get rid of Zim while we're at it. There's no way we can just send him back to Earth now. He'll pester us for weeks if we don't give him the crap he wants."

"True." My attention was caught by something else. A certain violet-eyed figure rising from her seat... she was probably heading off.

"I'll be back in a minute, okay?" I said distractedly.

"Where are you going?"

"...I don't know. Somewhere. I promise I'll be back soon."

I ignored Red's protests and started off. I didn't care what the less kind side of me had to say. I was going to tell Bik that I wanted her before I let the chance seep through my fingers once again.

* * *

"Why couldn't he have just died?" I mumbled to myself. That was really depressing, watching the training with the rest of the Invaders. It would've been great if he had just gotten swallowed by some creature. Or shot with lasers. Or thrown into lava. Or anything, as long as he had just _died. _Justice, it would be. Sort of. For me.

I turned another corner and started down a second corridor. If it wasn't for mandatory navigational skills that an Invader was supposed to have, I'd have nearly lost my way to the Massive's docking station. It was quite confusing, the layout of the ship.

I was slightly startled in the next moment. I spotted one of the Tallest, Purple, leaning against the wall, muttering under his breath. It was almost as if he were arguing with something. I opened my mouth to ask him what he was doing there, but clamped it shut. I remembered I was supposed to avoid him. He glanced up as I quietly took a step forward, his antennae pricking up. Shiz.

"Oh, hi, Bik. What're you doing here?"

"I should ask you the same question. Sir." Treat him with respect, Bik. Remember that.

"Wellll..." He drew out the word as he looked back down at the floor. "It's... I wanted to talk to you."

"Whatever for, My Tallest?"

He mumbled something unintelligible.

"Couldn't catch that."

"You can call me just Purple, if you want," he whispered.

* * *

I swallowed a lump in my throat. Would I ever be able to talk to her normally?

"Ooo-kay... if you want," said Bik. I saw her eye me dubiously. It was now or never. Now or never.

I stepped closer to her. "You know how weird I've been acting whenever I talk to you? Or when I see you? I feel really weird. You make me feel that way."

I couldn't identify the look she was giving me now. But I didn't concentrate on it. I was confident and I wasn't going to lose these seconds with her again like last time.

"It's been years that I've felt this way about you. But I've been too stupid and fumbling around so I never stood up and told you this. I really think- no, I really-"

"My Tal- Purple." Bik cut me off. "I know what you're going to say, so don't say it."

"No, listen to me-"

"No. I'm sorry, but I want you to listen to me. I know. I know that you want to be mates with me, and I'm very, very flattered, but you have really, really poor judgment. Remember what your brother said a while back? That I'm not good material-"

"I don't give a damn what my brother says, Bik," I said firmly. "This has nothing to do with Red, okay? Forget what he said."

"No, Purple, you really don't understand." Bik shook her head. "You're right, this does have nothing to do with him, except for the fact that _he's_ right. He barely knows me, the real me, and he's still right. I am not material enough for the mate of an Almighty Tallest."

"Yes you are! I know you are! You're tall, pretty, so attractive-"

"It has nothing to do with my looks, Purple. That doesn't matter."

"Of course it matters! I wouldn't like you if you were short and hideous. Or stupid. But you're really, really smart. And you are beautiful."

"No. Listen to me, _please_. You know that I had a steady boyfriend in training, right?"

"Um... no. That's why I tried flirting with you all the time. Not that I was exactly good at it... but still."

"Well, I did. It was Zim. Him and I were mates and we kissed more times than I'd ever be able to count. It was only when he was standing on a box or something that we were able to, but anyhow. I broke up with him because he was being a little arrogant dolt, and then two seconds later, he wound up killing my older brother by accident during Operation Impending Doom 1. And left me defective."

I blinked. I hadn't known any of that. I'd even forgotten she used to have an older brother until that moment.

"So, you know I'm not good enough for you now, if you didn't before, so you can start thinking of me as just another Invader instead of someone you love. Now, I have to go back to my mission and do what I do best: act out a part under the spotlight and pray that I won't get cut from the show until it's all over and I've taken my bow." Bik smiled gently at me, taking one of my claws and squeezing it lightly. "I'll see you in my next transmission, when you think of me as that one purple-eyed Invader taking over planet Smeb, not Bik, your favorite girl. Farewell, My Tallest." She let go of me and turned, then started off.

But she... but... how could... she just said no...? To me?

I stared after her, my thoughts wiped blank.

Without feeling a thing, I sank down slowly against the wall and sat on the floor. My antennae had fallen flat against my head.

Now that...

That was what wasn't supposed to happen.

* * *

I had no idea how long I sat against the wall, numb and blank. It could've easily been a few minutes, or even a few hours. It didn't matter. Nothing did.

She'd just... said she didn't want to be with me because of a few simple reasons.

I didn't remember getting up and heading off towards my bedroom. I was still utterly stricken. But I recall now that I had made my way through the corridors quietly and slowly, looking down at the floor, until I'd reached the bedroom door. I was dimly aware of the fact that I'd pulled on my lavender pajamas and climbed into bed a few minuted after I'd reached the room. I wasn't sure whether it was late into the night or a bit past early evening, but I felt quite tired. Maybe I'd feel better after I woke up the next day. I mostly wanted to quiet the everything around me and fall into deep unconscious so I wouldn't feel so terribly awful. I fortunately did fall asleep quickly.

I remember now I'd slipped into a dream, but at the time it didn't feel that way. Maybe it was why everything had felt so terrifyingly real.

I was standing upon a flat, hard surface. I couldn't see a thing, which was odd, because Irken eyes could see very well in the dark. But everything around me was utter blackness. I could only see myself. I was now wearing my royal robes, not my pajamas.

A blindingly bright stage-light clicked on, shining down upon me so that I had to shield my eyes from the glare.

"Where am I?" I muttered. I tried taking a few steps forward, but I was jerked back.

"Hey, what gives?" I snapped to myself. "What's going on?" I tried walking again, but the same thing happened. And I was also pulled forward and made to trip over my own feet, so I fell flat on my face upon the stage. Snickers arose from somewhere, I didn't know where. It was very, very loud, and made my antennae quiver from the volume.

I was jerked up again, this time up off my feet. I cried out in pain as I was dropped roughly to the floor.

"Who's doing this!? Stop it!" I yelled. My protest was met with more laughter. Loudest of all was the sound of a very familiar chuckle, coming from overhead. I looked up.

"Red? What're you doing?"

My older brother sneered down at me. He was positioned above the stage and was miles taller than I. He held thin strings in his long, clawed fingers.

"Hello, Purple. My, don't you look so very small?" He tugged on one string, jerking one of my arms up again.

"What's going on!?" I shouted.

"Oh, I'm just having a bit of fun, is all. What, you don't like being a puppet? But they're one of your favorite things!" He pulled two more strings and lifted me into the air again.

"I like watching them, not _being_ one! It's no fun just being jerked around by someone else! Put me down!"

"Not just yet." He pulled on more of the threads, and managed to flip me upside down.

"Cut it OUT!" I tried to keep my robe from falling over my face while ignoring the snickering in the audience. This was so _humiliating_! Why was he doing this to me?

"You're so easily controlled, Purple. That's why it's so easy to play with you like this." Red smirked broadly. "And if it turns out I don't need you anymore eventually, I can simply cut-" He severed half the threads. "-your-" Another snip. "-strings."

The stage disappeared, and I fell through darkness that seemed to suffocate from how incredibly black it was. I tried to yell for help, but my voice was lost, for some reason.

I finally came to a stop upon another floor. It wasn't cold, hard, warm, or soft. It was simply... there.

I heard a faint whisper, and felt a chill of cold smoke brush past my face. It was thick and made me cough.

In front of my eyes, a figure materialized from the smoke. I couldn't see any of its details, only that it had glittering lavender eyes that were narrowed thinly.

"Um... hi. Do you know where I am?" I spoke up.

The thing smiled widely, or at least showed its teeth. It was more of a chilling sneer. It reached out one of its spindly, sharp claws and stroked a finger along one of my antennae. Despite my uneasiness, I let out a small sigh of contentedness.

"Ow!" I yelped as I shuddered. The figure's deathly-sharp fingers had pinched my antenna at its base. The creature laughed, a high, cold cackle that... sounded much, if not exactly, like my own laughter.

"Things that can feel comfortable at first, Purple, most often end up being a little more painful than you had figured it would," the figure's voice purred, stroking a finger down my cheek and leaving it cut.

"Stop it! Get away!" I tried pushing the figure away, but it vanished.

"That could be a little difficult, Purple. Because I am you." The voice echoed around me. The phantom-esque thing appeared in front of me again, then turned back into the smokey substance. It wrapped around me, making me feel a chill, then it rose up and dived down into my PAK. My back suddenly started aching and I dropped to my knees, feeling too heavy to stand anymore. I coughed and shivered.

"_You're being weak again, Purple!" _shrieked the voice. "_Get up on your feet! Right now, you STUPID LITTLE CHILD!" _

I tried to lift myself to my feet again, but I felt too heavily weighed down. I feel again with a whimper.

"_GET UP!" _

"I can't! Everything's too heavy!" I said, then coughed some more.

An electric shock rippled down my spine, making me scream. My PAK-legs extended suddenly, though not of my own accord.

"Now you'll _really _feel what you so deeply deserve: a shot of cruel, harsh, painful reality." One of the PAK-legs sliced across my face, and another jammed into my arm. I emitted another yell, feeling tears of pain jump to my eyes.

"STOP IT!" I screeched.

"_I will if you start FIGHTING THIS! You're WEAK! A SAD, WEAK DEFECTIVE!" _

"I'M NOT A DEFECTIVE!" I screamed back.

A rough scratch was delivered to my face, and I cried out once more. I couldn't think in the next second, as I felt teeth scrape at my arm. My back was aching worse than ever, the wires that were attached to my PAK burning hot. I felt drops of blood leak out from around where the wires were attached. I wanted it all to stop, just make it STOP!

"You know what happens to a defective PAK, Purple. It's deleted and deactivated." Wire snaked out of nowhere and jammed into my PAK. It hurt worse than ever.

"I can't be deactivated! I won't let you! Just stop; it hurts so bad!" I cried.

"Shut your mouth," the voice snarled, and scratches appeared across my face. Teeth sank into my arm again.

"No! I can't be shut down! PLEASE!"

"Purple! Stop it!" Another scratch.

"Let me go! Just stop it!" But my protest was left for naught, except for a scrape that ran down my arm.

"Stop it now and _wake up_!" I was shaken fiercely.

"No, please..."

"Purple! Come on, wake up!"

My eyes flickered open. Red was standing over me, a tense expression on his face. "What in Irk's name did you manage to do to yourself? And how? That's really not good."

"What are talking about-" I tried saying, but a stab of pain made me whimper and clutch a claw to my arm.

"I dunno... I came in here because I heard you yelling out and... just yelling." Red glanced away from me. "You were doing all this to yourself in your sleep, I guess. How'd you extend your PAK-legs in your sleep? That's awful. And extremely dangerous. It looks like you stabbed yourself with them."

"I wasn't doing anything! Something was attacking me! It kept yelling at me and it was going to get rid of me forever! I was going to die and it didn't care! It liked seeing me be in pain!" I swallowed a lump in my throat and swiped a claw across my cheek, for I'd felt something hot run down it.

Red was eyeing me with an expression that made me feel even more terrible. It was concern and almost hinted with fear.

"Purple, you're going to be taken to the infirmary so all these wounds can be treated. And your PAK is going to have to be scanned whether you like it or not. There's something so wrong with you that it's almost scary. It's gotta be fixed, and now."

"There's no need for it! I'll be fine!" I tried rising from my bed, but the pain made me gasp and sink back down onto the mattress with a whimper.

"Alright, fine," I muttered, as Red fixed me with a glare.


End file.
